Buying a piano - where do I start

[Notafootballmum]

I am looking for a good quality piano. Currently DS is practicing on an advanced digital, but his teacher is adamant that we should switch it to an acoustic piano ASAP. Our budget is up to 5k, but would love not to spend over 3.5k if possible.

I really don’t have a clue about brands of pianos. I looked at some online, but a bit worried I will overpay if buying from a showroom or buy something unsuitable on Ebay. The teacher is not very helpful, I tried asking her for advice on this matter with no luck. Are there any trustworty showrooms in London? Do I bite the bullet and bid on eBay? What brand should I be looking for? We have a very awkward entrance, so ideally it should be as compact as possible...

People are giving them away! I had to pay for a piano mover but got a lively piano which barely needs tuned once a year!

I rarely see good pianos advertised for free or next to nothing around here. I spent a couple of years keeping an eye on ads to no avail.

I haven't read all the responses OP but why don't you hire first. Would be a perfect opportunity to settle on the right one. There are a number of nationwide companies that will deliver and tune insitu. Pianos generally always benefit from tuning - however brief - after being moved. Also, if you want to protect your investment, pianos should always always be moved by professionals who know what they're doing.

If your son likes the piano after trying it (you can rent long term though) you can often buy it. Be careful buying a second hand upright piano (especially pre 1930 / 1940) they will be 'over damped' rather than under damped - under damped giving a much better sound (a damper is basically a small wooden block with felt on one side that stops the vibration of the string from the key hammer). Generally, modern uprights (post 1940) are under damped.

An upright is generally better for space than a grand or baby grand, although the grand has the best sound over all, due to the cavity space being larger than an upright - and it has longer strings. It's also louder too because of this so you may want to consider that. Practice sessions are very repetitive (as my sister still reminds me years later!) - for the sake of household sanity you may want to consider the pros and cons of a larger piano (cavity)!

Despite the excellent advances in digital pianos over the years, they are no match for a traditional acoustic piano for a number of reasons, not least of all the cavity sound you get with a traditional piano and the weight of keys. You can feel and hear the dampening of the keys with an acoustic piano and this is like night and day for a piano player.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Also to consider: where I live, you can rent a piano from a piano shop and if you decide to buy it, they deduct the rental amount paid against the total cost. Worth looking into and asking

Robert Morleys in South London is well established family firm. Been very happy with the new basic upright we bought from there several years ago.

I was also thinking about maybe getting a new Yamaha B3E instead? It’s not as good as U1-U3, but I would have a peace of mind that at least nothing is seriously wrong with it and it will come with a Yamaha guarantee. Or maybe a small Essex piano? It is a bit pricey but we could probably stretch to it.

Renting sounds like a good idea, will ask today if they do rentals in the shop.

I bought a second-hand Yamaha U3 6 months ago and did plenty of research beforehand. You mentioned earlier that height was a concern - just wanted share my finding that the taller the piano, the longer the strings and greater the soundboard area. This means better depth of tone - don't go for anything less than 120cm. The U3 is 130cm and sounds great.

We paid an amazing price for ours - our piano tuner was the agent for a widow who was selling her husband's piano. It is relatively new (10-ish years old?) and we paid £4000 for it - absolute bargain. The old lady wanted the piano to go to someone who would take care of it - I brought my son round to try it and he played some Debussy which she enjoyed. We're really pleased with our purchase; Yamahas hold their price well, too.

You may want to ring around the piano tuners to let them know what you're looking for - if piano owners are getting their pianos tuned regularly, they're looking after it well! Google your area for second-hand agents as well - they might well have something in stock.

Don't rush to buy a piano. I've known that my DC needed a new piano for a couple of years but searched slowly and got a top-of-the-range piano for a fraction of what it should have been.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with free pianos - they have usually been neglected, were cheap-and-cheerful to start with or need work done. Someone who has looked after their piano would know how much it's worth. You don't want pay movers to bring it into your home and then be lumbered with a repair job and a piano that you'll have to pay to get rid of!

Do get your DS to try the pianos you are looking at too - he should be able to give you an indication of whether he likes it or not.

I agree with 242Mummy about the hight. But then I know some pros use U1 for daily practice so it's not the end of the world if you choose something lower than 120cm. Though it may be advisable for younger serious pianists to practise on a piano with good sound and response so it would be better to avoid anything too low if you can...

In regard to secondhand Yamaha, those made before the 1990s are believed to be better than the newer models due to the use of high-quality wood in the olden time. Especially 1970s is said to be Yamaha's golden era for the quality and often it's hard to find the ones made from low-quality wood. Having said that, if it hasn't been looked after well, obviously they can be worse than any cheap modern piano.

If you can take an expert with you that would be great, but if you can't, there are still things you can check by yourself.

You can certainly check the response of the keys (don't just press a key but lift it and see how smoothly and effortlessly it goes down), and observe the inside and see if you can spot any unwelcoming wear and tear (stretched strings, worn out felt, moss on hummers, etc) and make sure all the necessary restoration has been made. The checklist can go on if you are a nut like me!

I would say if you could find well-looked after Yamaha made in the 1970s and 1980s (before Japan's Bubble Economy) that would be a great buy.

Mickleburgh's in Bristol used to do a rent to buy scheme, so you can rent for a year and then pay off the balance. This also means that they often have some excellent deals on returned rentals that are only a year old. I also got a ridiculously good price on my Bechstein when I found the same model for double the price (and what I paid was significant) in another shop nearby.

We’ve just bought a digital Yamaha baby grand and it’s fantastic. Dh has spent his whole life playing acoustic pianos but he says the action and sounds on this one is comparable.

Sorry, it’s a Roland not Yamaha. (We looked at Yamahas too)

The Faringdon shop referenced by a PP is I think where we bought our piano. IIRC they had an exchange guarantee of some sort that meant you didn't lose the value of an instrument if it turned out not to be suitable, but could count it against an exchange to something else. If you can find a good local shop they may have similar arrangements?

Definitely try to visit a piano shop with your son even if it may not be the place you end up bying from. Get him to try different pianos, talk to the proprietors, they will give you and him a lot of information that would guide your decision making.

I would suggest - but do ask his teacher! - that a good quality but heavier action piano may be helpful to him for home practice. If you have a lovely responsive instrument with a light touch, it can be more difficult when faced with a heavy piano for an exam or a competition. I made noises about this when we bought ours, having grown up with a light touch piano and always found my teacher's instrument hard to play; but I think we still ended up with a lighter touch than might have been optimal.