Buying a Piano: What You Need to Know
- In This Quick Guide:
- Upright or Grand?
- New or Used?
If the day comes that you decide to buy a piano, you are immediately faced with two whopping-big questions: should you buy an upright or a grand, and should you buy new or used? Here’s what you need to know to answer those questions and figure out what kind of piano fits your needs.
Upright or Grand?
Pianos come in two basic design types, and there are big differences in cost, quality and practicality between them. Following are the considerations upon which your decision should be based.
Space
They’re not called grand pianos for nothing. Grand pianos are big! If you live in a small apartment, squeezing in a grand may be out of the question right from the start. If you have a larger living space, but are targeting a medium-size room for the piano, you may or may not want the instrument dominating your decor. Fortunately, grand pianos come in many sizes. The term “baby grand” refers generically to small grands, but is not defined by a particular size range. The following table gives you examples of typical grand piano sizes in four size ranges. The largest range, concert grand, is listed for information only. Concert grands usually are not appropriate for home use (unless you want the whole neighborhood to hear you practice).
| Range | Piano depth |
|---|---|
| Baby grand | 4′×9″–5′×5″ |
| Mid-size grand | 5′×5″–6′×2″ |
| Large grand | 6′×2″–7′×5″ |
| Concert grand | 7′×5″–9′×0″ |
This table should be taken as a very general reference. Some piano brands may advertise sizes larger than 5′×5″, and call them “baby grands.”
All grand pianos are measured from the front edge of the keyboard (the part of the piano closest to your lap when you’re sitting at the keyboard) to the very end of the instrument, at the point farthest away from you. The width is another measurement to keep in mind: most grand pianos are no wider than sixty inches (five feet) at their widest point, which is the keyboard plus the wood surrounding it. Keeping all these facts in mind, you can do a rough measurement in your room to see how large a piano you can fit. (A caveat: grand pianos tend to look bigger when delivered than you think they will when measuring.)
Upright pianos vary quite a bit in height, and very little in width or depth. Like grand pianos, uprights are about 60″ wide. The height can range from about 40″ from floor to top, to about 52″. Uprights are usually pushed up against a wall, with the keyboard facing out, making them very space-efficient. Upright pianos are really grand pianos stood on end, with the strings running up and down instead of parallel to the floor. Accordingly, increasing the height of an upright piano affects the sound by providing longer strings, but doesn’t have much effect on whether you can fit it into your room (unless your home has surprisingly low ceilings).
Sound Quality
Sure, grand pianos are beautiful pieces of furniture, but is there a musical reason to choose a grand over an upright? Yes, there certainly is. The musical persuasiveness of grand pianos is their strongest selling point.
There are two essential features of a grand piano, compared to an upright. One is that the strings are longer. The other main difference is that grands have lids that lift up, exposing the full length of the strings to the room. Both these crucial differences have a dynamic result: a much louder instrument.
Of course, the loudness of grand pianos may be a reason not to get one, if you live with close neighbors or in a small house or apartment. But there are tonal differences that come into play with the longer strings, too. Grands have greater sonority than uprights, even when played softly. Greater sonority means a richer, fuller, longer-lasting tone. The larger the grand, the greater the sonority (generally speaking, though different piano brands have different characteristics), especially in the bass notes.
In a piano store, play an octave toward the left end of the keyboard on a grand, then try the same octave on an upright. The difference, in most cases, is startling.
Tall uprights have longer strings than short uprights, and are usually correspondingly louder and more sonorous. However, most uprights can only let the sound out through a small lid on the top, limiting the kind of full-throated volume you get by opening the lid of a grand. (Some uprights also let you remove the lower panel beneath the keyboard. Doing so lets out a lot of volume, but exposes the unsightly innards of the piano to the world. For some reason, upright innards are an eyesore, while grand innards are glamorous. Go figure.)
Cost
It should come as no surprise that grand pianos are more expensive than the upright pianos. You may find some very tall, high-end uprights that cost more than very small baby grands, but the two price ranges converge only at the extremes.
If you are willing to purchase a piano sight unseen, you can get substantial savings online. Taking advantage of the Internet, some piano vendors have evolved into specialty dealers that routinely send pianos all over the country. When dealing with a reliable piano brand (such as Steinway or Yamaha) this type of purchase is not necessarily as risky as it sounds. If the piano is new or recently refurbished, and the warranty is good, the lower prices can enable slightly adventurous buyers to get a larger or better instrument.
New or Used?
The second big question facing prospective piano shoppers is whether to look at new or used pianos. The considerations are similar to deciding whether to buy a used or new car, except that pianos last much longer than most cars, so your choices represent a greater range of age.
What about damage to a used piano? What happens to pianos as they age, and is it safe to buy an instrument that’s five, ten, twenty or more years old? The answers to these questions vary with each individual situation. But generally, shopping for a used piano is worth the effort if you’re willing to put in the time and effort to find the right instrument. If a piano is built well, it can last for many decades.
Here are some considerations and tips when shopping for a used piano:
- After having narrowed your choices down to a few pianos, take somebody with you who knows pianos inside and out. It’s worth paying a tuner for a few hours of time to check out instruments you’re seriously considering. As with buying a used car, it’s advisable not to close the deal until the piano is checked by a technician. (Most tuners have a good technical awareness of all aspects of the instrument.)
- If buying a used piano from a store, check on the warranty provided by the store. If the piano is younger than about ten years, the original manufacturer’s warranty might be transferable. Older instruments usually are covered by the store in a limited way. A typical store warranty might extend for six months, which is long enough to detect and fix small problems that escaped your notice before buying. Also, try to get a free tuning (or three) worked into the deal.
- When looking at used pianos, whether in a store or in a private home, you can do a basic tire-kicking check by yourself. First of all, look at the instrument as a piece of furniture. Spot any scratches in the wood? You probably want to bring them up when discussing price.
- Open the piano lid (upright or grand) and look inside. You may not understand the mechanisms, but you can look for rust on the metal parts and strings. Look at the hammers (the felt-tipped things that hit the strings when you play the keys) and see if they are all aligned evenly. Check for any woodworking anomalies like warping or cracks anywhere inside.
- Cracked soundboards are a famous drawback of used pianos. But, the truth is, many soundboard cracks don’t hurt the instrument or change its sound. However, a crack is a sign that you need to maintain careful control over the climate around the piano in order to protect the soundboard, and other wood parts, from further damage.
- Play every note of the keyboard. Playing all the keys is probably the best basic test you can do on a piano, and it’s easy enough to tell when a note doesn’t work. Common problems with old pianos are notes that don’t play at all; keys that stay down after you release them; and keys that play the note twice (the hammer double-strikes the note).
- Don’t be concerned with used pianos in private homes that are drastically out of tune. The seller is perhaps foolish not to present the piano in its best light by tuning it before showing it, but bad tuning doesn’t necessarily indicate any problem with the instrument. However, ask when it was last tuned. If the date is more recent than two months ago, then you know there’s a problem.
- If you are visiting a store to which you intend to bring a technician at a later date to check some instruments, you might want to ask some questions during the first visit, then check the veracity of the answers when the technician is present. Ask whether the piano still holds its tune well, then have your tuner check the health of the pin block. Ask if the action needs regulation, then have your tuner check that. If the store’s answers and reassurances differ too widely from your tuner’s verifications, consider shopping elsewhere.
Even though you’ve nailed down what you’re looking for, you may find your priorities changing as you see what kind of pianos are available. Don’t worry—that’s all part of the joy of buying a piano, and at least you will have the ammunition to be able to deal with a persuasive salesman. Have fun, and happy shopping!
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Piano, Third Edition, by Brad Hill
