Piano advice

[CityWallandaTrampoline]

We’re looking for a second hand piano to replace our ancient upright which can’t be tuned to pitch anymore - DD1 is Grade 3ish and needs something fairly decent and DD2 is keen to learn as well now. We have a reasonably low budget piano-wise (up to about £1200) and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on the sort of second hand pianos that might crop up in that price range? Any particular makes that are any good (or really bad!).

The ones we have come across so far include: Bentley, Zender, Kemble, Welmar, Silberman, and a little Yamaha that was reduced because of fading! I’ve tried googling but struggling to find information about some of these, and conflicting views of others. Can anyone suggest anything we should be looking out for?

The Kemble and Yamaha would almost certainly be fine. Yamahas especially tend to be pretty bombproof and unless it’s absolutely ancient it will be fine. Does your piano teacher have any leads? Piano dealers round here have good second hand stock, but it’s useful to have someone who knows to give advice.

I have a Kemble (though bought from new). They are lovely pianos so if it has been looked after well, it will be fine. Before this I had an old Welmar that I paid around £1000 for - it too was lovely and a workhorse of a piano. was sad to see it go. Take someone who knows pianos with you to view though, so they can check the action.

When I was looking for piano stools I found lots of people just giving their pianos away, just because they don’t have the room for them - keep looking, you might find some very good ones without having to spend a penny.

Every once in a while I see a perfectly good piano being sent to the knackers yard and I genuinely feel a pang. Such a waste. And Yamaha is a verysafe bet.

I have a Spencer bought in that price range a couple of years ago.

Try Freecycle, loads of pianos are available - ours apparently is a really good one, free (apart from hiring a van) and got dd to grade 8!

Honestly go with piano teachers advice. We ended up getting an electric piano on recommendation but piano teacher was willing to come and view pianos with us to make sure we weren't being sold a dud!