Hire a piano?

[Jas]

Hello again! As you might guess from the title of this post, I still haven't got hold of a piano, even with the good advice being given out here...

Having thought about things a bit, I think my options are either to continue to search for a decent-ish modern piano, second hand, or hire something a bit better.

If I were buying, I wouldn't really want to spend more than GBP1k since I can't actually play yet. However, I'm aware that this wouldn't get me a great piano, and I might find myself wanting to upgrade in a year or two. In that case, selling the piano might be difficult and I might not get much of my money back.

I've had a look at hiring costs, and the cost (pa.) is roughly about a quarter of the price of the piano, and then usually some (half) of the hire costs can be discounted against buing the piano, or another from the same shop.

I could hire a GBP2k piano for a year, pay about GBP500, and if I then buy it, I save GBP250 on the purchase price. The cost this year would only be GBP250 and I wouldn't have to worry about PX or selling privately.

Are there any hiring pitfalls I'm not seeing? I could afford to spend more on a piano now, that would make more sense when I can figure out what I really want in a piano.

Thanks for your help,
Jas

[Gill the Piano]

If you're just starting out, what about a little Zender or something - about 30 years old, small, sometimes 5 octaves (but that won't worry you for three grades or so!)? By then you'll know if you're interested enough to keep going and to invest more in a piano. If not, the tiny pianos seem to hold their value because of the size of the houses they're throwing up these days. Something like that should still be playable and tuneable but won't cost over a grand - or it shouldn't, anyway!