Choosing a First Piano - Silent Upright

[DaveP]

Hello,

I'm starting to learn the piano as an adult. As we have a one year old daughter and I would be practicing most of the time during the evenings I wanted to get a silent. I'd searched through the posts here come to help come to a decision. For the budget I have buying a Yamaha P116 would be best; giving me a decent piano which would suit me for at least five years. Consequently I was quite surprised when I rang one of the retailers who advertise on this site. He bluntly advised me not to do this and to buy a B2 instead. He said in all his years in the trade he'd never sold a silent P116 upright. Also that as a beginner I'd find it harder to play the P116 as it takes time to build up the hand strength for more "professional" pianos, whereas the B2's provide a better stepping stone in this regard. Given that he presumably makes less money from selling the B2 to me I assume his advice is well intentioned, (though completely at odds with another saleman's pitch from a different company which was to go for the P116).

A slight concern I also have in buying an upright from the P range is that they occupy an awkward space in the market. Once you finally get to a stage where you appreciate the difference in build quality you'll probably itch for a piano from Yamaha's U range or equivalent from other manufacturers. Is paying the extra money for a slightly better starter piano the better investment?

[Barrie Heaton]

I would say he sad that because he has no P116 or a silent version in stock

I know of 2 dealers who stock P116 and sell quite a few of them one of them has a P114 silent in stock - the silent ones in the larger sizes do tend to sell quite quickly especially form the discounters who stock them. the U1 and U3 silent are the most popular in the larger pianos

But this..........

"I'd find it harder to play the P116 as it takes time to build up the hand strength"

well.... Mr green for not knowing his pianos

[PianoGuy]

For the budget I have buying a Yamaha P116 would be best; giving me a decent piano which would suit me for at least five years. Consequently I was quite surprised when I rang one of the retailers who advertise on this site. He bluntly advised me not to do this and to buy a B2 instead.

The b2Silent is a very badly packaged piano in that Yamaha have chosen to omit any MIDI facilities which would have cost pence to include. Even if you won't use MIDI yourself, your daughter may well find that it is a wonderful facility when doing GCSE music composition or to interface the piano with computer or other musical equipment.
Unless you're very sure that you will never use MIDI, don't even consider a b1 or b2Silent. Maybe the dealer had overstocked on the b2Silents in order to get a quantity discount, whereas the P116 would have to be a factory order. Yamaha's trade terms change on the 16th of September, so if a Yamaha piano is not in stock at Yamaha, there may be a difficulty of a dealer getting hold of one under his current dealer contract, and possibly if he's currently a big discounter, prices will have to change.

He said in all his years in the trade he'd never sold a silent P116 upright. Also that as a beginner I'd find it harder to play the P116 as it takes time to build up the hand strength for more "professional" pianos, whereas the B2's provide a better stepping stone in this regard. Given that he presumably makes less money from selling the B2 to me I assume his advice is well intentioned,

There is no discernable difference in the touch weight of a correctly set up P116 and b2. The actual weight of hammer is different, but this is not appreciatively different at the keyboard. He may have never sold a P116Silent because at that price point, the Kemble Oxford/Cambridge twins are available in a better range of finishes and are similar pianos from the same factory, although the recent cessation of Kemble's elegant "Georgian Mahogany Lustre" finish has brought the two models closer in finish availability.

A slight concern I also have in buying an upright from the P range is that they occupy an awkward space in the market. Once you finally get to a stage where you appreciate the difference in build quality you'll probably itch for a piano from Yamaha's U range or equivalent from other manufacturers. Is paying the extra money for a slightly better starter piano the better investment?

You are kind of right. The U range is better without doubt. Just don't buy a b2Silent unless you're sure that all you want out of a silent piano is the ability to play with headphones.

[DaveP]

Many thanks for your help, that's very useful. Given your replies I think I would be better off going for a piano from the P series, or a Kemble, rather than the B. As this is my first piano I couldn't tell if I'd previously been given valuable advice or not.

[Barrie Heaton]

Many thanks for your help, that's very useful. Given your replies I think I would be better off going for a piano from the P series, or a Kemble, rather than the B. As this is my first piano I couldn't tell if I'd previously been given valuable advice or not.

if you go for a Kemble get it form a Centres of Excellence they now give a 10 year guarantee and all stock silent pianos.

All Kemble one have Midi and you can record on them as well

Barrie,

[PianoGuy]

Many thanks for your help, that's very useful. Given your replies I think I would be better off going for a piano from the P series, or a Kemble, rather than the B. As this is my first piano I couldn't tell if I'd previously been given valuable advice or not.

The standard b1 and b2 are great value.

The Silent versions' silent systems have been cheapened too much to be worth considering. Too much has been economised on in the way of build quality and features.