Finding a Piano - New or Used

Shopping for a piano in a store or one line can be quite frustrating. If it's used, has it been tuned and taken care of by the previous owner(s). One never knows if a piano has been stored in a storage facility where the temperatures can be either soaring above 100 degrees or below zero. Both extremes are not good and can even crack the pin block where the tuning pins hold the tune - making the piano nice for converting it to a planter - worthless as a musical instrument.

What brand name is right for you?

How do I protect myself from buying a lemon and getting stuck with something horrible.

All good questions!

First, I ALWAYS encourage people to buy from a reputable dealer. This way you have a recourse and they have to give you some type of warranty on the piano your buying.

Also, you can trade up to a better piano if you and or your children take to the piano and want to study it more seriously.

There are 11,000 working parts in a piano and the odds of something going awry are always present - so a warranty is a good thing on a new and used piano.

What brand name to buy and is of decent if not superior quality - is a great question.

Common names you will be familiar with include Baldwin, Steinway, Kawaii, Yamaha just to name a few. In today's market place you will see a lot of old brand names re-surfacing like Kohler and Campbell, Wurlitzer - and 100 of other brand names, some of which are made in China, Indonesia, Korea and other countries.

The quality is what matters the most. I had a tuner / technician friend tell me that she has worked on pianos that were made in China but she recognized the hammers used in the action to be Yamaha. Manufacturers of pianos have become very competitive; the price of labor in other countries is very low so they can afford to sell piano cheaper to dealers and thus pass that saving down to the consumer.

If you really are serious about investing in a piano, I would always recommend hiring a tuner / technician to make sure the piano will hold tune. This equates to the engine in a car. If the engine is performing well - the piano will last a lifetime.

Bottom line past the quality of how the instrument is built is the sound quality, touch quality and furniture beauty; these issues are very subjective and no on has the right to tell you what you like.

Some people like a bright, almost brittle sound coming from the strings, some people like a more mellow sound. This has to do with VOICING which sometime is done at the factory, on a cheaper piano, this is usually done at a dealer level so the sound response from top to bottom is even. It takes a fine ear and an extremely well trained technician to voice a piano.

The quality of the hammers is what gauges the sound or tone quality along with the choice and quality of the strings. The whole instrument has to be built towards an excellent 'scale' so all the parts work in conjunction with each other.

Should you have an specific questions, feel free to email me directly at

mraspiano@yahoo.com

or my office at (949) 454-1221. Ask for Art Scott.

I am a professional piano broker with over 40 years experience dealing with pianos and I am also a private piano teacher here in Southern California.

I have contacts all over the USA and can give you free advice towards helping you invest in the instrument of your dreams.

All the best, Art Scott www.artscottpianobroker.com

we also teach piano www.musicbyartscott.com