A Piano Buyers Guide
2023 The Year of Song and Verse
For Matios and and the Sons of Matios
Price range for a functional and tunable used upright is about $1000 to $2000. (our second upgrade piano is a $5000, K. Kawai 5'1".) The bank does not have to be broken to get the first piano. Your budget should price the piano so you can still afford lessons. A piano for students is a every day use item so going beyond 2000 is ok, but don’t break the bank , you still have lessions.
The goal is a functional, tunable, mechanical noise free, machine that sound good. It has to have good pedal function and have been well maintained. A good sounding piano is also an investment in the households sanity. Since you have to listen to it a couple hours a day, tinny and squeaky and out of tune get old fast on a chronic basis. Also it is better for learner to get used to in tune sound.
I would get a friend who knows piano to go shopping with you and a technician (tuner and repair person) to go with you for final purchase and negotiations. If you don’t know what a good piano sounds like it is best to have someone who does. They will get you past the ones that you should not buy. The technician who usually charges $50 to 100 will give the piano a review find flaws and get the shop to fix them before it gets in your home. We had ~ 300 dollar of repairs to eliminate sticky keys, and a few clicking keys and replace some chipped keys laminate. She also allowed us to pick out the best of the three pianos we were looking at and she was able to pick a piano that would hold tune and was well maintained. Also a tech will be working on your piano in the future so they have a bit of SITG to get one that is easy to work with.
~~HOW MUCH SPACE DO YOU HAVE, the grand or upright decision may be made just on the economics of space in you home. Look to where and how much space you want to invest on your piano. I would get a tape measure out.
~ Go to more than one store find one where you like the pianos and the staff. With 10 years of warrantee or 5 years of trade in credit you don't want to deal with people you dislike.
~ The piano is a piece of furniture so make sure it goes with your homes aesthetics. You don’t want fights about how ugly the piano is.
~I would give your price rang to the sales man and let them show you an array in your price range.
~Also discuss warrantee, and delivery as they can be give me to close the sale but will be tacked in the end if not negotiated up front.
~Delivery should be ~ 150 dollar range and it should include a tuning. Try to by the whole package.
~5 to 10 year warrantees often are thrown in to close sale at no extra cost. As are free tunings.
~Also discuss upgrade trade-in and value options 5 years 100% value is pretty much the standard for trade in for purchase of a more expensive piano.
~ prepare for annual tuning and maintenance about $150 dollars a year
Old is not always a bad option. If a machine is maintained it can be decades old and still sound great our K Kawai is 1981 manufacture. Many pianos have easy tracking by serial number. Old pianos if they are well maintained have higher quality wood and are built like tanks and are over designed. Ours has Japanese wood and manufacture as it was in the early years of K Kawai semi pro baby grand design. It sounded better than the 2000s Yamahas we were looking at.
Electronic Piano’s are an option but they have to have simulated weighted keys, I prefer acoustics. This is a brand new option that gives you a lot of options, and consumes little space.
One electric that intrigues me $ 2700 …