2nd hand piano - any thoughts?
Discussion
Well the fine Mrs TVRForever has finally noted the number of boys toys around the place and decided to even the stack up with a piano.
So any comments re what we should look for? She's a piano beginner (but already reads music and plays the clarinet), it needs to look ok as it's to go in the dining room - but also needs to play ok as we have some concert level pianist friends... Budget about £3k...
Any recommendations / comments / suggestions?
For 3K she'll be able to get a cracker. Considering the number of perfectly good pianos for less than 1K on Ebay I doubt you'll have problems.
Chances are, when its been moved, it will require tuning. Any good high street shop you buy from will do this anyway.
If its a very old piano, and you have central heating, I suggest placing a small bowl of water within the innards, to help stop the piano from drying out.
I bought my piano from Ebay for about £100, and its great! Hardly any 'honky-tonkiness', it sounds lovely. Could do with a tune though, its not bad, just very slightly out on the odd note.
Chances are, when its been moved, it will require tuning. Any good high street shop you buy from will do this anyway.
If its a very old piano, and you have central heating, I suggest placing a small bowl of water within the innards, to help stop the piano from drying out.
I bought my piano from Ebay for about £100, and its great! Hardly any 'honky-tonkiness', it sounds lovely. Could do with a tune though, its not bad, just very slightly out on the odd note.
Feel free to completely ignore me if you are after furniture.
If you are after a decent piano sound, then you could consider digital. Mine:
..and what it sounds like:
www.stevecarter.com/sd2p.mp3
Software driven with a keyboard controller.
Of course, if you want somewhere on which to put the vase of flowers, or want to just sit and play (and smell the wood)... then as I say, ignore me.
If you are after a decent piano sound, then you could consider digital. Mine:
..and what it sounds like:
www.stevecarter.com/sd2p.mp3
Software driven with a keyboard controller.
Of course, if you want somewhere on which to put the vase of flowers, or want to just sit and play (and smell the wood)... then as I say, ignore me.
Yeah, forget the case, get the best instrument with the longest bass strings you can find. I'd try and find a mid size grand for that price. Forget size/condition, sound is everything. You should get a shitty old grand which will be a beauty for those bucks. I remember being offered a Bluthner boudoir grand for £2.5K a few years ago, they do come up. It sounded beautiful. Also go for something with a good action, not too deep or shallow. Quite a few pianos I've played (including £165K worth of Bosendorfer concert grand) have had appaling actions. It is really important.
I'd rather have a shitter of a piano which plays beautifully rather than something which looks the part and is a beast to operate.
>> Edited by love machine on Sunday 31st July 20:19
I'd rather have a shitter of a piano which plays beautifully rather than something which looks the part and is a beast to operate.
>> Edited by love machine on Sunday 31st July 20:19
tvrforever said:
So any comments re what we should look for? She's a piano beginner (but already reads music and plays the clarinet), it needs to look ok as it's to go in the dining room - but also needs to play ok as we have some concert level pianist friends... Budget about £3k...
If you have the space, I'd go for the boudoir grand option. My ex has one (Broadwood) and it really looks good. Like cars, for any given budget you can either buy a new 'average brand' piano, or a second-hand prestige one. The top makes are Steinway, Bechstein, Bosendorfer and, amazingly, Yamaha (though IMHO 'Yamaha' looks totally wrong on a piano).
I's go to your nearest good music shop and see what they have.
As for me, the only thing can play is a pianola
love machine said:
In my opinion, Yamaha make the best modern pianos. The best piano I have ever played was a brand new Yamaha upright. Perfect in every way. They rule.
I have a yamaha mini grand, and its digital. They (not sure who they is mind
) use the very same model in some concert halls. Make no mistake, a good digital can fool even the most seasoned pianist
Check out the yamaha CVP range. Your local shop may price match, I got my 7k piano for 5k!! So in theory, with internet price matching, you should be looking at a £4k model, new.
Now, about the models... in the CVP range, the action is astoundingly good. Wooden keys are available on some models, Ive heard pianists say they couldnt really tell the difference between the wooden and non wooden. Point being dont get hung up deciding, they are all fantastic.
Get yourself over to your local music store and see whats on offer in the CVP range. The realism is the same within the various models (you do not have to spend big bucks to get a better sound) ... more money just buys more bells and whistles.
As with cameras, the digital medium has already reached the point it does everything the non digitals did, and more. Can of worms for some, just my opinion. Check out the Yamaha CVP 305/307.
My comment was from the action point of view. There are better sounding pianos (by a margin) but the action is all important and the japs have come up trumps. If I had to buy another piano, it would be a Yamaha.
Not sure about the electrics. I had a beauty years ago and I swear that after the warranty ran out........it started going properly wrong in a very expensive manner. I threw it in a skip when the motherboard shat itself. (I was skint at uni and it was about £500 to fix, for a piano which cost several £K a few years ago now. I wouldn't have another one of their electrics, allthough I'm sure they are excellent.
Best electric piano I've owned was a Mk1 Fender Rhodes suitcase 88. Nice action and bombproof as well.
Not sure about the electrics. I had a beauty years ago and I swear that after the warranty ran out........it started going properly wrong in a very expensive manner. I threw it in a skip when the motherboard shat itself. (I was skint at uni and it was about £500 to fix, for a piano which cost several £K a few years ago now. I wouldn't have another one of their electrics, allthough I'm sure they are excellent.
Best electric piano I've owned was a Mk1 Fender Rhodes suitcase 88. Nice action and bombproof as well.
danhay said:
When my folks wanted to get rid of their old upright, they had to pay someone to take it away. They had advertised it in the local paper previously.
True, you can get them for £100 and get them tuned. Depends how serious you are. The best piano playing I ever heard was by Ben Waters www.benwaters.com (every bit as good as Jools Holland) on my local pub joanna. He beat the living crap out of this poor unsuspecting upright and it was awesome.
GetCarter said:I disagree with this sentiment.
Of course, if you want somewhere on which to put the vase of flowers, or want to just sit and play (and smell the wood)... then as I say, ignore me.
I play a Yamaha P120 digital, which is decent enough and does me well considering I have no room and lots of adjoining neighbours.
However, what it simply cannot do is replicate the resonance that an acoustic piano produces and which I feel is critical to the playing process. I find myself longing for that vibration, and to feel "one" with the instrument - I cannot do this on a digital.
For technical purposes, be it practicing pieces or stop-start composing for example, a digital is great. But whenever I want to play to "feel" the music and to drown myself in a self-created world of symphony, only an acoustic will do. And preferably a grand, at that.
Same deal with guitars - I can't stand electric guitars, and pseudo-acoustics like Ovations come close. Nothing sounds like a lightly-braced and well-crafted solid wood acoustic guitar.
IMHO.
-DeaDLocK- said:The new Yamaha CVP range do that. Microphones on board assess the room's size and create a sound which is suitable and realistic.
However, what it simply cannot do is replicate the resonance that an acoustic piano produces and which I feel is critical to the playing process.
Strike a key, and other digital strings also start to vibrate. The new digitals are better than many uprights, getting you closer to the acoustic grand than cheaper uprights will. They even out perform mid range uprights, but that does depend on the model and budget.
UKbob said:Cool.
Strike a key, and other digital strings also start to vibrate. The new digitals are better than many uprights, getting you closer to the acoustic grand than cheaper uprights will. They even out perform mid range uprights, but that does depend on the model and budget.
But it's not the sound I'm on about (i.e. the sympathetic resonance), but the actual feeling of the physical movement of strings transferred through the piano keys to fingertips.
When a hammer hits a digital sensor, no matter how good the software no string vibrates and all you get is a realistic sound - not a realistic feel.
-DeaDLocK- said:If your fingers seek vibrations, just lob a couple of dildoes down the back mate.
But it's not the sound I'm on about (i.e. the sympathetic resonance), but the actual feeling of the physical movement of strings transferred through the piano keys to fingertips.
When a hammer hits a digital sensor, no matter how good the software no string vibrates and all you get is a realistic sound - not a realistic feel.
Im sure you're right though. But Im not experienced enough to comment further
jessica said:
I have a mini piano..Art Deco.
Evestaff.
Used to belong to Val Parnell who was a relative of mine
I've got the same! Black, with chrome. Lovely thing.
A word of advice - is yours insured? My pazzers paid £100 or so for mine 25 odd years ago, and I never thought about value till I saw one in an antique shop window, looking a bit tired, for 3.5K!!
Cue a call to the insurers..
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