determining piano value

[joe]

Looking to purchase new or nearly new 121cm piano in black polyester,looking to spend 2k to 3k any advice,how do i go about getting the best piano for my hard earned cash?

[Psycho Pianoman]

I’m curious to know why you’ve mentioned 121’s. I’m guessing you have a least a couple of 121 pianos in question?

[Kemble King]

If you can step up your budget a wee bit you can then have your pick of Brodmann, Perzina or Wendl etc etc. Anything lower and you are then stepping into the secondhand Yamaha zones and can quite often be a lottery on quality.

[PianoGuy]

If you can step up your budget a wee bit you can then have your pick of Brodmann, Perzina or Wendl etc etc. Anything lower and you are then stepping into the secondhand Yamaha zones and can quite often be a lottery on quality.

Top advice.

For between 2.5 to 3k you could easily find one of Perzina's sub-brands such as Eavestaff or Gehr.Steinberg which are supremely stable and reliable with excellent Austrian soundboard and Euro componentry. They are discreetly labelled "designed by Gebr. Perzina" on the front of the piano at the treble end of the keyboard.

The brilliantly performing Perzina 129 could be yours for far less than a new Yam U1 if you can stretch to it. If you can, it's worth paying the premium for the Renner action, and a Renner-actioned 122 is not far over your price bracket, and either would be my top choices by a long chalk. Non-Renner versions are still great VFM and feature Renner hammers in any case.

Again, you're not far away from a Brodmann BU121, but I'd give the BU125 a wide berth.

The Wendl&Lung 122-Universal is a decent alternative if you forgive the use of cheap rubbishwood in unimportant areas of construction.

All the above makes feature good European design but are built in China. They all trounce a Yamaha b-series for tone quality and sound far more "grown-up", although the Yamaha's action takes some beating.

[joe]

Thanks for your swift replies.I have tried quite a few pianos in this range used yamaha are out as kemble king says quality varies and i would agree with his comments,new yamaha b3 too bright and action too light but very light to the touch.kawai k3 was my favourite but too expensive,also steinberg in local dance school nice tone pity about the action,so far the piano that fits the bill was a new samick 121,not too bright,not too mushy and in the price range,also tried the euro-chinese and as piano guy mentioned piano sound enough but pricey and would rather buy a piano which has been tried and tested,i have had some good reports on these pianos anybody got any advice before i part with my hard earned cash.

[PianoGuy]

Well, I've been tuning products from the Perzina factory for about ten years now, so would suggest that counts as 'tried and tested' . Indonesian and Korean products lag behind the best from China now.

[joe]

Thanks for info went for SAMICK piano at my local shop and bought off the sale floor and got a good deal,thanks for info.

[joseph]

I think the new Samicks sound quite good. I hope that you like it and that it serves you well.

[jimba]

I’m also interested to know why you’ve mentioned 121’s?

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[djtoast]

Again, you're not far away from a Brodmann BU121, but I'd give the BU125 a wide berth.

what makes you say that? i played the whole range of uprights when i bought mine (except the 128 which was absent from the store) which at that time meant 116, 121, 123 (not the new veneered version, a black one), 125 and 132.

i found them all pleasing and quite similar in tone except for one which sounded a bit thick and stodgy by comparison (i assumed it was just out of the crate and awaiting some prep work or something?) - but that was the 123 i think, or possibly the 121, i can't now recall. the 132 (built in a different factory i gather) was notably different in touch, though it sounded similar in tone to its littler brothers - more powerful obviously though. the biggest difference i noticed with the 132 was in the pedals, hard to describe in what way though!

anyhow, my 125 sounded fine in the shop and has been stable and trouble-free since, but if your experience differs i wonder why?

[chrisvenables]

Interesting comments.

DJtoast: I've got all upright models on the floor at the moment, and obviously have my own views, but would welcome your feedback, (and PG's). It would be interesting to know why you chose the 125 over the 121 or 132. Any particular reason - tone, touch, dynamic range, price, style, etc?

Piano Guy, what don't you like about the 125?

[djtoast]

Interesting comments.

DJtoast: I've got all upright models on the floor at the moment, and obviously have my own views, but would welcome your feedback, (and PG's). It would be interesting to know why you chose the 125 over the 121 or 132. Any particular reason - tone, touch, dynamic range, price, style, etc?

the 132 was unquestionably a better piano (obviously it's a wholly different instrument from the others) but was a little beyond my price point at the time. if there'd been a 128 in the shop i might well have bought it. in all honesty i picked the 125 over the 121 largely on the general principle that "taller=better". it did have a fuller sound in the shop than the smaller models. the 116 was incredible value at that time but i'd sorta come around to expecting to spend about £3k since i played lots of pianos i liked for about that price, and very few i liked for much less than that. so i suppose i ruled the 116 out on "can afford better" grounds. the 121, 123 and 125 were pretty similar in price so the many comments on here about string length kinda swayed me towards getting the biggest of those and nothing else about playing and hearing the 125 dissuaded me from that idea!

[chrisvenables]

DJ, thanks for the feedback.

[joe]

Exhausted!!.phew,121,123,125,128,132,thats a lot of models to stock of the same brand,why so many height variations,are the frame sizes all different for each model ?.