1st piano for a 9 years old

[ottowyrth]

Hello,

My daughters is taking lesson for the past year and half and we want to upgrade her piano at home from a digital keyboard to a proper one.

In my neighborhood, someone is selling a "RITZ Model" piano for 100£. I went to see it, it looks decent, my only problem is that the notes seems to ring longer than they should (pedal not engaged). Is it something that can be tuned / fixed, or a sign that it's not in good shape?
see pix

On the other end, i'm identified that KNIGHT could be a good choice, as i see some 2nd hand between 300 and 800£, and it seems a reputable & solid brand (for the price range). I'm also seeing a Challen 988 at 200£ on reverb.
Question: i'm struggeling to understand the difference between the Knight K10 and the K20, is one better than the other?

Thank you very much!

[chrisw]

The Ritz does look reasonable but to diagnose any faults and estimate the cost of fixing them you really need to hire a tuner/technician to look it over. Have you scanned the Facebook page "Piano for sale UK" to give you an idea what other pianos are available ?

[ottowyrth]

Thank you.
I did search on FB, gumtree & reverb.
On facebook, i see a lot of piano for free...which scares me a bit tbh.
So i don't want to buy a cheap / not great piano for 100 to then realise i need to spend whatever on fixing or if then i want to get rid of it and ... even free it doesn't go away!

Any opinion on the Knight?

[Barrie Heaton]

Knights are a good make however, like anything secondhand, it's how it's been looked after that counts rather than the make.

A common problem with k10 and k20s are the bass strings going dull.

Barrie

[chrisw]

Besides Knight, other good British pianos are Kemble, Chappell and Welmar. Yamaha and Kawai are good pianos but can be pricey even secondhand.. Fazer pianos are probably worth considering. A learner needs to like the sound of the instrument being played.

[chrisw]

Besides Knight, other good British pianos are Kemble, Chappell and Welmar. Yamaha and Kawai are good pianos but can be pricey even secondhand.. Fazer pianos are probably worth considering. A learner needs to like the sound of the instrument being played.

[ottowyrth]

Thank you all, very useful to read your comments.
I'm going ahead with the Knight.

Could you recommend a good piano mover in North London?
So far the quotes I have received are around 200£ which I found a bit pricy.

Thanks,