Buying a piano

Buying a piano - essential information

Brian Capleton PhD is a Lecturer in Piano Technology

at the Royal National College, UK.

This page

The information on this page is impartial - it is not going to tell you what piano to buy, but it is a free resource to help purchasers be more aware of the issues, and to be more aware of the difference between real issues and mythical ones.

In my experience most people buying a piano for the first time, or without much knowledge of the instrument, do not require extensive technical knowledge of the instrument, but just awareness of the basic "ground facts". Accordingly this page is not here to teach anyone about the inner details of piano technology, but to provide much more essential information.

How much should I spend?

Buying a piano, "you get what you pay for". You cannot expect to buy a "musician's instrument" for a mere few hundred Pounds, Dollars or Euros.

How much would you spend on your car? Or your TV? It's a matter of available budget and choice. £90,000 would buy you a new concert grand piano of excellent quality. £2,000 should buy you a reasonable, new domestic instrument, for some discerning musical use, at the lower end of the market. In between, "you get what you pay for". However, this does not necessarily mean that the highest priced piano is always "the best" in every respect. "You get what you pay for" is a general rule.

The "older is better" myth

Unlike 'cellos and violins, older pianos are not inherently more valuable. (In fact, even older 'cellos and violins are not always more valuable). Older pianos are invariably less valuable than an equivalent new one (e.g. same make or equivalent quality, same or similar size).

This raises the question "Should I buy an "up market" older piano or a lower market new one?

Buying a newer piano of quality, even if it's not from the top of the market, you are often paying for more robustness, slower deterioration, better materials, technological design advantage, and more reliability. These factors are important in the piano, because unlike 'cellos or violins, pianos contain a great deal of quite complex technology, albeit not "high tech". Failures and weaknesses in these technological features leads directly to failures in musical qualities. Older pianos will always be deteriorated in some ways, unless they have been re-built (see below on this), and even then, you will still not be dealing with a true "equivalent" of a new instrument.

Many older pianos do look more attractive than modern ones, especially if you like antique furniture, but unfortunately, unlike violins and 'cellos, you can't really tell the condition of a piano just by looking at it from the outside. Many pianos have beautiful casework in beautiful condition, whilst inside they are far from being mechanically sound, or a good, reliable musical instrument.

Choosing

Choosing a piano naturally shares many of the same issues encountered when buying any other musical instrument. In buying any musical instrument you will be fortunate if you find the instrument of your dreams that fulfils every desire you have of it, and continues to do so, unless you have an unlimited budget.

Quality does not come cheap. Good musical instruments of any kind have always been, and still are, expensive items. That is the nature of quality musical instruments. Nevertheless, the "value for money" today, when buying a piano, considering what a piano consists of, and what you get for your money, has never been better.

The best quality instrument will sound beautiful, hold its tuning well, have a great dynamic range, and be extremely sensitive and responsive to the demands of the musician. A very poor quality instrument will have a poor tone, inconsistent characteristics over the compass, will not be capable of very fine tuning, will not hold its tuning well, and will be insensitive and unresponsive to the demands of the musician. In between these two extremes is a whole continuum of possibilities, in both new and older instruments.

The first thing to consider is the technical quality and condition of the instrument. Unless you are an expert, take professional advice on this, but some points of guidance are given on this page.

Many musicians will skip this first step of assessing technical condition, and go straight to the second step which is how you "like" the piano as a musical instrument. In professional assessment of a piano, this would always be the second step, because although musical appeal and quality can be an indicator of good technical quality and condition, appearances can be deceiving.

Pianos are not like cars. The issues are not always easily definable things like looks, power, safety, comfort and gizmos. Pianos are musical instruments, and their characteristics, their strengths and weaknesses, are as complex and subtle as music itself.

If you are told the piano needs tuning, or it sounds that way to you, then you cannot really assess it as it stands. Piano tuner-technicians can do a great deal to improve weaknesses in pianos, and make them sound and perform at their best, but piano tuner-technicians are not magicians - every musical instrument has its foibles or weaknesses, and some of these cannot be overcome by any measures. The piano needs to be fine-tuned before you assess it.

Once you're confident that the instrument is technically sound, it's very important to choose what you like, as much according to your "musical taste" as anything. If you are inexperienced or unsure, then try as many different pianos as possible. Piano vary enormously. Related to this choice is of course the question of tone. Although pianos vary in tone greatly, one of the greatest areas of differences is in the bass, and this is directly related to piano size.

Size in pianos matters

The "ultimate" kind of piano is the grand piano, in which the soundboard and strings are horizontal. However, this does not mean that a given grand piano is "better" than a given upright piano (in which the strings and soundboard are vertical).

In pianos, size matters. The smaller you make a piano, the more you have to compromise its design features and acoustical requirements. In all musical respects, the general rule of thumb is that bigger is better, given equal quality in other respects.

Look at pianos of different sizes, and you will see that there is not much difference in string length at the top note. In the bass notes, however, it is a different story. Bigger pianos usually have a much better tone in the bass, largely because they have longer strings in the bass. Longer bass strings = better tone. Some very small grand pianos actually have considerably shorter bass strings than reasonable sized upright pianos. Therefore, many small grands are considerably inferior in tone to a reasonable sized upright piano. Grand pianos start to become obviously superior in tone when they are around 5'6" in length or longer. The longer the better, as a rough rule.

Short upright pianos cannot be expected to have as good a tone as large ones. Miniature uprights have particularly poor tone, especially in the bass, just as miniature grands do.

Weight

Pianos are heavy, because they are intended to be. The greater part of the weight comes from the iron frame. Heaviness is not a sign of anything "old fashioned". All new pianos have cast iron frames. This is to take the tension of the strings (which on some pianos can be in excess of 20 Tonnes), and because - without going into the technical details - acoustically, weight is good.

Overstringing

Overstringing or 'overstrung' refers to the string arrangement, not the tension. On an overstrung piano the bass strings "cross over" the rest of the strings, by being positioned on a different plane to the rest of the strings. This allows longer bass strings, and hence better bass tone (see "size matters", above). If you are buying a piano, you should buy an overstrung piano. All new pianos will be overstrung. Other types are straight strung and oblique strung. These are obsolete. Very small grand pianos may be double overstrung.

Overdamper versus Underdamper

Overdamper and underdamper refers to the position of the dampers. Inside the piano, it is the felt hammers that strike the strings. The dampers are the felt components that stop the strings vibrating after the note is released. In the upright piano, overdampers are above the hammers, whilst underdampers are below. Underdampers are superior. Modern pianos are underdamper pianos.

Deterioration in used pianos - how a piano ages

Deterioration in used or older pianos is an important issue. An older piano will have deteriorated. Ageing of pianos includes the following processes and factors. Bear in mind that there are many thousands of parts in a piano, and that the piano may be maintaining a structural tension up to 20 Tonnes or more, all the time.

The soundboard, which when manufactured, is arched or "crowned", will loose some of its "crown", or in some cases, all of it. This causes tonal deterioration.
Some of the jointing in the soundboard and bridge structure may loose some of its integrity. This leads to loss of tone and unwanted noise.
Wooden parts may split or become weak, "move" or warp. This can cause loss of tone, and loss of tuning stability - the instrument may loose its ability to hold its tune, or its tuning and tone stability may become unpredictable. Sticking or unreliable notes can result.
The metal of the strings becomes fatigued, corroded, and deteriorated in other ways. There is a subsequent loss of tone quality.
Felts become worn, and compressed. There is a loss of tone. The action looses sensitivity and fails to work as designed.
Glue joints may begin to fail.
Moving parts in the action may become too loose, or too stiff. The "touch" then looses its integrity and sensitivity, or becomes too heavy and unresponsive.

Many of the materials used to construct new quality pianos are often superior to those used on older instruments, and will not develop the same problems that are seen on older pianos.

This does not mean you should not buy an older piano, and only buy new. You should, however, be very aware of these potential differences between older and newer pianos.

Restored, rebuilt, renovated, reconditioned....

What does it all mean? De facto, these terms mean that anything from some work to a great deal of "repair" type work, is supposed to have been carried out on the piano. Unfortunately, it may also mean, de facto, that no work other than perhaps cleaning, has been carried out. Again, do not be overly influenced by what it might be supposed to mean, or what anyone tries to tell you it means. The facts about a piano speak for themselves, no matter what words someone uses to describe the work that has been done.

"Restored", "rebuilt", "renovated" or "reconditioned" pianos, have in the past been an important part of how many piano traders have made their money. In the future, this "tradition" may change, as the price and quality of new instruments becomes more and more favourable.

The vast majority of "restored", "rebuilt", "renovated" or "reconditioned" pianos, will still contain the same basic technology and material-types, of the original instrument. An instrument that was initially high quality, that has been expertly restored to a high standard, may be comparable to a new instrument of similar underlying manufacturing quality, but this is comparatively uncommon outside the largest, most well known piano companies.

If buying a "restored", "rebuilt", "renovated" or "reconditioned" piano, be sure you trust the supplier you are buying from, or get independent, expert advice.

Getting advice

If you trust a reputable dealer from whom you are buying, then you can get the advice you need from them. Alternatively, seek independent advice from a piano tuner-technician whom you know and trust. Many people rely on piano owning friends, or piano teachers, for advice. If you are buying "privately" and do not have the consumer protection you would otherwise have buying from a dealer, then relying on pianists and piano teachers to verify the soundness of a purchase can be risky. It is true that a good deal of piano condition assessment and diagnosis can be made simply by playing the instrument, if you also have sufficient knowledge and experience of piano technology. However, before actually buying a piano a more thorough assessment than this is needed. As I said above, professional assessment is first, technical condition, and second, musical qualities. In my experience most pianists and piano teachers do not have sufficient technical knowledge and experience to correctly assess the condition of a used piano on examination of it. The best approach is often to seek advice from a trusted professional tuner-technician.

What should I be looking for?

Don't try to get it right on technical grounds, by yourself. Seek advice. Here are some primary points:

1. Looks - If the piano looks good on the outside, that doesn't necessarily mean it is sound on the inside. If it looks clean and "shiny" on the inside, that doesn't necessarily mean all is well inside. It is relatively easy to clean up the inside of a piano without addressing real problems that may be present. It is not a good idea to buy a piano with nice shiny new strings and clean new hammers, if there are cracks lurking in the wrest plank (the pin block holding the tuning pins).

2. How does it sound? - This is the first indicator. If it sounds terrible, it probably is in terrible condition. It is true that this is not always the case, but you need professional assessment to confirm any good potential, if the piano sounds terrible.

3. Is it up to pitch? Concert pitch, despite the name, is not something reserved for concerts and concert pianos. It is an international convention for musical instrument pitch. If you buy modern instruments from a music shop, for example, trumpets, flutes, guitars, xylophones, they all need to "agree" in the pitches of their notes. It would be difficult if middle C on one instrument was the same as, say, middle B, on another.

The convention then, is for A4 (the A above middle C) to have a frequency of 440 Hz (440 cycles per second). If a piano is not "at pitch", i.e. at concert pitch, then this always indicates some reservation that you should consider.

If a new piano is not at pitch, then it has not had its optimum tuning regime since manufacture, or something else is amiss. This may not be too much of a problem from this point onwards, but at the same time, it is not in optimum condition. If a piano is "below pitch", it will need a "pitch raise". A "pitch raise" is not in itself, a fine tuning. It is two or more tunings, first, a rough one, and then one or more fine tunings. This may or may not take place in one session. So if you take delivery of even a new piano that is below pitch, one tuning is not generally going to be sufficient for it to stand in fine tune for six months after the tuning!

4. How does the action feel - repetition - the notes should be capable of responding both to very sensitive, gentle playing, and very forceful playing. One of the most important features of the action is its repetition capability. This is how efficiently or easily it will allow notes to be repeated. Not only is this essential for musical reasons, but it is a good "litmus test" for the condition of the action.

Some basic insider business facts on buying a piano