Buying a piano

[Ipayne117]

We currently have a very old and out of tune upright piano inherited or should i say rescued from our local pub during a refurbishment. Our son who is 10 and just doing his grade 3 after taking an interest in this poor unloved piano is very keen to have a baby grand. We have no idea what to buy or where to get one from and have little or no music ability. Any advice would be very welcomed as we don't want to make a mistake.

[Barrie Heaton]

A 133 size upright is far better than any true baby grand.

Its all down to how much money you wish to part with, will it be second-hand or new. If second-hand then the same rues apply as cars make is not that important, as you can have a good make but it may have been neglected.


Barrie,

[Pianomate]

The tonal quality of a piano usually depends on the quality of the construction and the length of the strings. The better pianos are what is termed "overstrung" whereby one half of the strings go diagonally over the over half to enable them to be as long as possible, thus a baby grand as Barrie mentions is generally unlikely to be as good as a large upright. For pianos, generally "bigger is better" as this means longer strings, and of course the more you spend, the better the instrument is likely to be.

If you are keen on a grand format piano and have room for something larger, a far wiser choice would be a boudoir grand, slightly shorter than a regular grand.

Read the Piano FAQ section on the options to the left of this frame for more details. If you are looking second hand, then if you see one you like the look of and sound of, then you should always get the professional opinion of an expert (a piano tuner or tech) before you part with any cash.