Piano buying advice needed for a newbie with limited budget

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suewales
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Piano buying advice needed for a newbie with limited budget

Post by suewales »

Hello everybody, I have read loads of info on this forum and elsewhere on buying pianos but I still have a bit of a dilemma. I want to buy a piano (for me to learn on) but only have £1500 -ish. Everything I have read warns me against buying second hand pianos but any new piano that I could buy for this price wouldn't be very good (I think). I have seen Yamaha U series on ebay for around this price, but they are all quite old (I really fancied a Yamaha). Why is 4million a magic number?
I would be so grateful for you help and opinions on this.
Thanks
Sue
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Re: Piano buying advice needed for a newbie with limited bud

Post by Barrie Heaton »

suewales wrote:Hello everybody, I have read loads of info on this forum and elsewhere on buying pianos but I still have a bit of a dilemma. I want to buy a piano (for me to learn on) but only have £1500 -ish.
Then get a B1 and up grade in 5 years time see if your local dealer has a buy back scheme when you upgrade
suewales wrote: Why is 4million a magic number?
Sue
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Barrie,
Barrie Heaton
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PianoGuy
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Re: Piano buying advice needed for a newbie with limited bud

Post by PianoGuy »

Barrie Heaton wrote:
Then get a B1 and up grade in 5 years time see if your local dealer has a buy back scheme when you upgrade
Provided the dealer hasn't gone teats-up in the meantime, trying to compete with the discount boys by selling £1900 b1s at less than 1500 quids!
suewales wrote: Why is 4million a magic number?
Sue
The frame underwent a redesign at that point.
remlap3
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Post by remlap3 »

Everything I have read warns me against buying second hand pianos
Hi Sue, What have you been told about second hand pianos to put you off them? There's so many decent ones around, it's just being able to distinguish between them.

If you do find a second hand piano (especially if it's in your area) that you still aren't sure of, it is worth contacting a local tuner and paying them to go and tune the piano and give it a once over. They are generally quite happy to do this for you, because if you buy the piano (or another piano), it is likely you will ask them back to tune it regularly.

Also if you buy a second hand piano from a recognised piano dealer for that price they are generally speaking very sound as they are usually sent through their workshops and checked and tuned before reaching the shop floor (this isn't to say that all piano dealers do this!!).
Also, as the second hand market is so vast now, piano dealers only really buy from the best choice of second hand pianos as there is such a good selection!

Hope this helps!?
suewales
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Post by suewales »

Hello again,
Thank you so much for your advice, not only to my post but for for all the other posts on this site which I have found invaluable.
I have found that there are so many contradictory opinions around, but the main thread that rings out loud and clear is 'don't buy a piano unless you have played it' so that is what I did - even though I found it a bit intimidating.
I visited a piano restorer and tried every piano that he had, and then went to a dealer today and played all of his (even a Steinway - gulp!). The piano that stood out for me was a Kawai K3 but it was way beyond my budget...so I bought a new K2, which was still a lot more than I planned to pay, but I know that I won't regret it, I can always trade up at a later date. There was no comparison with some of the second hand pianos. I know that an awful lot of work had gone into restoring them, hence the high price, but from a customer perspective, I think that I got more bang for my buck with the K2 and less risk into the bargain.
Once again, thank you for taking the trouble to reply to me.
Sue
remlap3
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Post by remlap3 »

I'm glad you found a piano. The Kawai's are fantastic pianos.
I'm guessing you purchased from Stuart Jones Pianos!?

Good luck with the playing!
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