If this is for a student or an intermediate player, get a good upright in this price range. A mediocre piano will always be a mediocre instrument. A quality instrument will always be a quality instrument. Digital pianos have served a great purpose in the last 30 years. But it is not all rosy talk. Digital pianos are technology and technology depreciates like your phone or your computer.
This certainly does not cover everything but it is a start. I wish you a pleasant journey as you select the best piano for your needs, and I hope that you find knowledgeable sales people who will listen to your questions and recommend the best piano for you.
You must be logged in to post a comment. Piano Showroom: Music School: A quick history Lesson: One hundred years ago there were over piano makers in North America. So how come we still have so many names on pianos? Prev Next. Leave a Reply Cancel Reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Other pianos have jewels built into the finish as well as engraved materials. When looking at buying a piano, a big part of the final cost is attributed to the age and condition of the instrument.
Generally, the newer the piano, the more expensive it will be. In the case of used pianos, the condition of the instrument factors a lot into the final costs. As the buyer though, you would need to anticipate how much of an investment is needed to bring the instrument into playing condition.
Used pianos that need minor work or play well will cost more; sometimes as much as a new one. Older does not always mean cheaper, especially when dealing with bigger brands like Steinway, Fazioli, Bosendorfer, and Yamaha. In this case, you might find that the Steinway has had a complete rebuild, essentially making it brand new compared to a Steinway that has some mileage on it.
An instrument that has had patchy work done or needed frequent repairs is a sign that it might be worth less than the asking price. Those who have found a piano that they love and commit to purchasing it need to be aware of how financing works. Much like a car payment, the more initial money paid on the piano, the lower the monthly payments will be. With any piano loan, there will be interest tied to it.
Those who choose to make smaller down payments on the piano will end up paying significantly more in interest over the years. A typical piano loan runs at 6. Thousands can be saved when purchasing a piano from a private seller. Although a private seller cannot offer any warranties or financing, a thorough inspection of the instrument should ease any concerns.
This also gives you more options to obtain your own financing rather than using the sellers financing. The easiest way to decide how much to spend is to think about how the piano will be used. These are much less than acoustic pianos and offer a good introduction to the instrument at a low investment point. If the student is more serious about the instrument, then an acoustic upright piano is a good option.
I would advise getting a used piano from a private seller because many times you can get one for free. The condition of the piano might be terrible, but with some work, they will be playable. Grand pianos are instruments I would consider for intermediate to advanced students who are serious about music. A cheap grand piano plays much differently than a high-quality one.
In general, I recommend sticking to brands like Yamaha, Kawaii, and Baldwin. They offer excellent entry-level grand pianos for really good prices. Steinway makes the Boston and Esx pianos which cost a little more, but they are excellent instruments. In general, stay away from used pianos that need a lot of reconstructive work. Pianos in that condition will cost more to fix than they would be purchased new.
If you do plan to purchase an old piano, a proper inspection beforehand can save you a headache later. Is a baby grand piano worth it? Baby grand pianos are a cost-effective option compared to larger grand pianos. Fair market value is the price at which an item would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither of whom is compelled to buy or sell, and each of whom has reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts. Appraisers of used pianos and other consumer goods typically use three different methods to determine fair market value: comparable sales , depreciation , and idealized value minus the cost of restoration.
The comparable sales method compares the piano being appraised with recent actual selling prices of other pianos of like brand, model, age, condition, and location. Generally speaking, this is the most accurate method of determining value when one has access to a body of information on recent sale prices of comparable items.
There is no central repository for sales information on used pianos, and each appraiser or technician, over a lifetime, sees pianos that are so diverse and scattered as to these criteria that they are likely to be of only limited value as appraisal guides. Exceptions might be technicians or dealers who specialize in used Yamaha, Kawai, or Steinway pianos, brands that have attained nearcommodity status in the piano business.
To handle this problem, I and my staff have attempted to approximate the fair market value of pianos of various types, ages, and conditions by querying a number of piano technicians about their memories of comparable sales. This chart is most useful for determining the approximate value of many brands of older piano for which it would otherwise be difficult to find enough comparable sales to determine a value.
Understandably, however, the price ranges shown in the chart are quite broad. The chart is organized by categories of vertical and grand piano broken down by age pre and — , quality Average, Better, Best , and condition Worse, Average, Better, Reconditioned, and Rebuilt.
For prices of pianos made since , I suggest using the depreciation method, described later in this article. The price ranges given reflect the wide possibilities a buyer faces in the used-piano market. At the high end, the prices are consistent with both a better economy and a higher demand for the type of instrument indicated.
In some categories, the prices we received from our sources varied all over the map, and we had to use a considerable amount of editorial discretion to produce price ranges that were not so broad as to be useless as guidelines, and to retain at least a modicum of internal consistency in the chart.
For that reason, you should expect to find some markets or situations in which prices higher or lower than those given here are normal or appropriate. The prices given here for pianos that are not reconditioned or rebuilt those labeled Worse, Average, Better are the price ranges you might expect to find when buying pianos from private owners.
The Reconditioned and Rebuilt categories represent prices you might encounter when shopping for such pianos at piano stores or from piano technicians , with a warranty given. In some cases we have omitted the Rebuilt price because we would not expect rebuilding to be cost-effective for pianos of that general age and type.
In every case, prices assume the least expensive style and finish; prices for pianos with fancier cabinets, exotic veneers, inlays, and so forth, could be much higher. However, even Worse pianos should be playable and serviceable. This offers an opportunity for the less furniture conscious buyer to obtain a bargain.
For the purposes of this chart, however, we have adopted the requirement that a piano has not been rebuilt unless its pinblock has been replaced, and that a piano that has been restrung, but without a new pinblock, is considered to have been reconditioned.
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