looking to buy a piano

[somebody]

i would like to buy a piano, i am currently decorating my new house and it has a gorgeous double height hallway with a great big open space that i dont know how to fill. i thought a piano might look nice there and it might inspire me to pick it back up again. if nothing else il learn a couple of carols for xmas time!
any suggestions of good looking pianos, i know its wrong but i would like to buy one for its looks and not its quality as an instrument as i cant imagine it will be played too often...
any help would be appreciated.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

Are you thinking baby grand?
Are you thinking black? Brown? or White?
Are you thinking contemporary design or early 20th century?
Do you want new or used? Or don't you mind?
Do you have an approximate budget in mind?

The answers to those questions should help us help you

[somebody]

Are you thinking baby grand? yes i am, i think
Are you thinking black? Brown? or White? i was thinking black but i did not know that there was a brown option, i would just love a dark brown piano! that would go great with the soft neutral colour scheme im stealing from a great livingetc article that i completely cannot find at the moment
Are you thinking contemporary design or early 20th century? probably classic design, not modern, but then again i couldnt say that i know which is which. ive been looking in to some sort of concrete paving slabs for the flooring, maybe flagstones, so i wont want anything too modern to clash with that aesthetic.
Do you want new or used? Or don't you mind? do not mind, i imagine a nice old slightly battered used one would be lovely
Do you have an approximate budget in mind? a grand is my absolute tops.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

a grand is my absolute tops.

I would recommend enlisting the help of a trusted local technician. Ask him to help you find something suitable on ebay and inspect it with you before bidding/buying. You won't get a guarantee or a tuning etc but with the help of your tech you should be fine.

[musicpeeps]

Just keep in mind that the first piano to come into your home is a big deal. Whether one or all of your children are playing or just the parents, a family piano will be looking at a lot of use over the years, so it's important to choose the right one. To decide with this, there are several top of the line brand names when it comes to pianos. Some of the best brands include Fazioli, Steinway and Sons, Baldwin, Wurlitzer, Beckstein and Kemble. You really can`t go wrong in buying a top quality piano brand.

[NewAge]

Just keep in mind that the first piano to come into your home is a big deal. Whether one or all of your children are playing or just the parents, a family piano will be looking at a lot of use over the years, so it's important to choose the right one. To decide with this, there are several top of the line brand names when it comes to pianos. Some of the best brands include Fazioli, Steinway and Sons, Baldwin, Wurlitzer, Beckstein and Kemble. You really can`t go wrong in buying a top quality piano brand.

I'm sure there are many Brit tuner/technicians who would disagree regarding your comment on Baldwin being a 'top piano brand'. Their concert grands may be up there with the best (debatable), but who can afford those anyway?
And Wurlitzer - top quality piano brand? Perhaps I've been missing something.

American and British tastes are so different. Take Hamburgers and Fish and chips for example!
(I think this may just prompt a comment from 'Colonel Sanders')..........


For the OP who states it may be used to play a couple of carols at Xmas time, wants it more for looks than quality, and can't imagine it would be played too often, surely a mention of Yamaha or Kawai would make far more sense than Fazioli or Steinway.

[Colin Nicholson]

WOW! If anyone has a spare £30K - £100K in their wallet - a concert grand (or grand) Steinway would be lovely - preferably the Model D of course. Can't imagine any beginner buying a 'new' make like that, unless they've won the lottery! Even if these 'top brand' pianos are 2nd hand, they can still develop problems just like any other piano. Yeh, I also don't rate Baldwin, and I once tuned a Wurlitzer and walked away half way through it.

.... I like scraps on my fish & chips thanks!

[Johnkie]

Sorry guys ... I do rate Baldwin & Wurlitzer - I've been unlucky enough to come across these from time to time and can honestly say that I would put them on a par with Lindner ..... 1 out of 10 - marginally better than a poke in the eye with a hot needle.

[NewAge]

WOW! If anyone has a spare £30K - £100K in their wallet - a concert grand (or grand) Steinway would be lovely - preferably the Model D of course. Can't imagine any beginner buying a 'new' make like that, unless they've won the lottery! Even if these 'top brand' pianos are 2nd hand, they can still develop problems just like any other piano. Yeh, I also don't rate Baldwin, and I once tuned a Wurlitzer and walked away half way through it.

.... I like scraps on my fish & chips thanks!

I just knew you would clock-in Colonel.

I honestly had no idea what 'scraps' were. Had to Google to familiarize myself!
I can imagine the Colonel as a young tyke investing in a bag of chips - just to get the free scraps........

Now learn that some ponsey restaurants up North are charging for scraps, £2 at a place in Leeds! That's more than Dad used to pay to get our piano tuned........

[Colin Nicholson]

Blimey! Lindner pianos.... we are lowering the tone now Johnkie. I was very fortunate to visit a home (about 15 years ago) - with one of those meccano style actions! - and for obvious reasons, loads of the plastic snap-on key chasings broke, and in an attempt to repin a hammer flange, I also broke the plastic thingamebob - I attempted to glue the bit, and luckily never heard from them again!! A lesson well learnt. Then about 2 years later, after two of my pupils had been practising on a toy electronic keyboard, I told them if they wanted to do Grade 1, they would need a piano. Well..... guess what the parents bought? say no more.

Would love to know if anyone still owns one?

[Johnkie]

HI Colin - I well remember the shop I used to work for back in the 1970s being so enthusiastic about the arrival of "these wonderful new type of piano" made by Lindner - later re-named Topic". They used to arrive in a cardboard packing case, with the keyboard hinged down so that it saved space. We took it in turns to "bag" the good quality plywood plinth that it was bolted onto for transport. The shop sold loads of them to various music departments stating that years of reliable service should follow. After a year or so they all started falling to pieces .... mainly the centre rail spring steel snapped. way back then you could get replacements for about 10p direct from Lindner, but now it seems that a few enterprising dealers are buying clapped out examples (everyone ever made !!) and selling the various parts that haven't yet broken for a tenner a time. Thank God I haven't had one to look at for a long time! I seem to recall that even the wrestpins were odd - they had an opposite thread to everyone else - so winding on a replacement string was "great fun"
I blame Bruce Forsyth for championing the damn things on the generation game - it was billed as "assembling a piano in a few minutes" - It should have been "smashing one up with a sledgehammer"

[Barrie Heaton]

Would love to know if anyone still owns one?

I tuned one last year but told them to get shut, it had the wooden keys thankfully came up form Kent . They did have some good ideas just the wrong materials

[vernon]

As Barrie says,Lindners were great but with the wrong materials.
In fact they were revolutionary in concept and had they survived may well have taught a few lessons..
They ditched the horrifying plastic keys back to traditional wood ( Mahlers) and they still give good service.
It's a shame some modern makers can't swallow their pride and revisit some of their innovations. Regulating them was a ten minute doddle.
We bought up all the spares when they went bust in Shannon.

[Barrie Heaton]

The reverse tuning pins was a very quick method of stringing. the tapes were good never seen one with broken tapes. As you say Veron regulating the depth of touch idea was good



Barrie,

[chrisg]

Ever considered a digital piano? Sure, for me the acoustic ones all the way, but I've recently purchase a Kawai digital - really excellent. Changed my thoughts of digital pianos.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

I have a Topic that sounds very much like the same build quality as a Lindner.
It's falling to pieces and free to a good home for furniture use only. It is strictly NOT for sale as a musical instrument