Piano Buying Tips – 10 Mistakes to Look Out For
Purchasing a first piano can be fairly intimidating, especially if you don’t already have a lot of experience with pianos.
Fortunately, here at Merriam Pianos, we’ve seen the piano purchasing process through with literally thousands of customers since our inception, from beginners to concert-level piano players, so we can safely say we know a thing or two about what people ought to look for when buying a piano.
Today, we’re going to tackle the 10 mistakes shoppers often make when buying a piano. We feel this list should be helpful to anybody who’s embarking on the process of selecting an instrument for their home, school, church, studio or wherever it may be.
Avoiding these common mistakes will go a very long way in ensuring your long-term satisfaction with the instrument you end up choosing.
Mistake #1: Used is Better Value than New
The very first mistake is a common assumption many people make, which is that a used piano is automatically a better value than a new piano.
While there are cases where this is true, most of the time the overall marketplace has already factored in the value a buyer is getting for used versus new – as long as you understand the street price versus the list price of a new piano that you’re looking at, you’ll simply be getting what you pay for.
For example, a used Yamaha U1 in a certain age category has a particular market price point that’s been largely set due to the fact that any used piano performs at a certain level markedly lower than a new counterpart.
If a new 48-inch Japanese piano is worth $9,000 to $10,000, the cost of a used model directly dovetails with this and will be anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 depending on age and condition.
The main reason for this is that all pianos degrade, depreciate and wear out over time, without exception.
There is no such thing as a 20-year-old piano that is as good as a brand-new piano, with the exception of those rare barn finds where someone unearths a 20-year-old instrument that was never played. Obviously, something like this would be a killer deal, if you could find one.
In most cases, a used piano has received hundreds and even sometimes thousands of hours of use. The hammers are harder and have started to wear down, plus there’s more play in the hammer action, meaning it’s going to be looser and less responsive.
The soundboard will have already received decades of down-bearing tension, which affects the soundboard crown, which in turn affects the dynamic potential of the sound.
Tuning stability may also be sub-optimal due to a variety of reasons, such as the humidity of the environment in which the piano is stored. The piano technician/tuner bills can add up quickly.
Finally, the aesthetic condition of a used piano is pretty much always going to be inferior to a new piano unless the instrument has been refinished.
However, this can be costly and would be reflected in the price. For most people, when they invest several thousand dollars into an instrument, they rightfully want it to look good.
All of that put together is to say this: when it comes to used versus new pianos, you get what you pay for.
New pianos are more expensive due to their superior musical potential, aesthetics, durability and warranty coverage. Used pianos cost less, and in the case of many Spinet pianos are available for free, for a reason.
Mistake #2: Buying Based on a “Discount”
This is another one we see all the time – the allure of a big percentage discount from the list price set by the manufacturer. This is an old sales technique that stretches across many industries, automobiles being the most common.
The piano industry is certainly not immune from this, and there’s been a lot of good ink spilt on this subject over the years – Piano industry expert Larry Fine for example has opined on this with a great level of detail in several of his highly credible publications.
Here’s what this mistake comes down to; MSRP stands for manufacturer-suggested retail price, and is 100% set by the manufacturer without measure against any type of objective standard.
In the marketplace, there seems to be an inverse relationship between a piano’s reputation regarding quality and how high or low the MSRP is.
The better the piano, and the more established the reputation of that instrument, the closer MSRP is likely to be to the actual legitimate street market price of that instrument, to the point where some instruments literally have no daylight between MSRP and what people are actually paying for these pianos.
For many decades, you could say that Steinway & Sons was the only manufacturer who achieved this, but these days there are a number of other manufacturers marketplace who have achieved this as well.
Estonia for example has set their MSRP very close to what the market actually pays for their good high-quality pianos, meaning they haven’t artificially inflated the MSRP to a point where dealers have an abundance of room to discount.
On the flip side of the equation, situations exist where lesser-known and lower-quality brands often dramatically inflate the MSRP of their pianos to achieve two things; for one, they’re looking to achieve the perception of equivalence with much more established brands, by listing a high MSRP to artificially inflate the value.
Secondly, this gives less experienced and less established dealers a sales tool that can be effective at generating excitement, i.e. a large, time-limited discount.
This is a common tactic with lesser-known Chinese and Indonesian lines. Very rarely do you see this approach occurring with either North American, European or good-quality Asian-built pianos.
The market pricing is so well-established that people’s impression or need for a sense of credible pricing on these instruments handcuffs the manufacturers in a way that is advantageous for consumers.
So, don’t be allured by a super high discount based on MSRP from a slick salesperson because there’s a very good chance that if you’re getting something like 50% off the list price, this MSRP was artificially inflated in the first place.
Mistake #3: Underestimating a Piano’s Volume
Do not underestimate how loud a piano is!
We can’t tell you how many times every single year we get a call from a customer who was thrilled about their piano purchase only to receive delivery and a couple of weeks later be begging for some type of a solution due to the sheer power and volume a piano generates, especially when you dig into the key action and have the sustain pedal engaged.
Pianos are loud. They were built to be loud, and there’s no way around this.
Don’t underestimate this and instead, actively plan for it. If you’re in a small space or if you’ve got neighbours, carefully consider the size of the piano because size has a direct relationship to the volume that it produces.
You can also consider other mitigating strategies such as installing a silent system or going with a top-tier hybrid piano that’s actually able to produce a musical experience on par with a fully acoustic piano.
Mistake #4: Not Measuring Piano Size Correctly
This one might seem obvious, but just as often as we have people calling and looking for strategies to mitigate volume they weren’t expecting, we get even more calls about this one – the piano won’t fit. Measure!
This comes up a lot when we’re talking about getting pianos into or out of basements and onto second floors.
Pianos are large and heavy so you need more than a centimetre of clearance to safely move one up and downstairs.
If you have measured at the music store and it’s literally going to be within an inch, there’s a very good chance that you are going to be taking on damage to the instrument itself or to the walls of your home.
This should be an expectation, and it is not a reflection on the moving company that you have selected if a problem occurs.
The vast majority of piano movers really care about the work they do, and often times issues arise simply due to folks having selected a piano too big for its desired end location.
Mistake #5: Allowing For Acclimatization
This next one has less to do with a shopping mistake and more to do with a misconception right at the same time as a shopping purchase.
Acoustic pianos, not so much digital pianos, need to acclimatize. There is a huge amount of tension on an acoustic piano, and the primary materials, wood and iron, are prone to shrinking and swelling with changes in humidity and temperature.
The humidity and temperature in a warehouse will be different than the humidity and temperature in a piano showroom, which in turn will be different from your home.
When the piano finally arrives in your home for the first time, there will be a period where the instrument goes through some changes while settling into the new environment.
This process often results in piano keys that are slightly sticky or at least a little stiffer than you might expect them to be. You may also find some ringing on certain strings, or a damper that isn’t quite damping perfectly.
These are all signs of an instrument that is generally acclimatizing.
It’s certainly a good idea to notify your dealer if these things occur shortly after delivery, but your first reflex should not be to think that you have bought a lemon as this is very common. and stretches across all piano brands and types of pianos.
If the humidity continues to be quite dynamic in your home, you can expect a lot of these behaviours to continue.
Creating a humidity environment that is stable can go a long way in preventing these issues from occurring, but even if they do, there’s no need to panic. Just keep in touch with your dealer and they can get the issues remedied.
Mistake #6: Not Considering The Mechanical Sounds Of A Silent System
This is one that wouldn’t have needed mentioning even 10 years ago, but the increasing popularity of silent pianos has changed this.
And it makes perfect sense – people want to be able to enjoy all of the sound quality of an acoustic piano without making enemies of their friends, family, and neighbours.
With that in mind, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing so many silent systems installed on acoustic pianos since the technology has really evolved in the last few years.
But here is what you need to keep in mind; the mechanical sound of a piano’s action is anything but silent.
While the 80 decibels of tone that the piano produces due to the hammer striking the strings is eliminated, the marked mechanical noise that the action itself produces can’t be done away with.
Plus, most silent systems still have the hammer striking some type of bar which also produces noise.
With this in mind, we would encourage anyone considering a silent system to make sure you play one in a piano store and pay attention to the mechanical noise that isn’t done away with by the silent system.
Mistake #7: Buying Based On A Country’s “Sound”
Often times we have customers visit one of our showrooms and the conversation starts something like this “I hate Japanese pianos, they’re too tinny and the American sound is just a little too brash for me.
I really prefer the high-quality European piano sound.”
The problem here is that countries don’t really have sounds.
There is as much variety in the German piano-making industry as there is in the Japanese piano-making industry for example.
Instead, countries have general quality standards that can translate to musical perceptions.
When you are competing in a marketplace where your consumer is accustomed to a particular standard of quality, you will generally find that all manufacturers will rise to the occasion. Otherwise, they simply won’t be able to compete.
Europe is steeped in musical culture, and as such the standards that the buying community apply to the piano manufacturing business are higher than buying audiences where the level of musical fluency isn’t as well-established over multiple generations.
As such, German pianos generally are the best made, and the better made a piano is, the cleaner the sound will be.
Under that umbrella though, there’s a huge variety of tonal colours and palettes that are possible.
As a result, there are both light and dark pianos from Germany, as well as super colourful pianos and pianos with a very simple tonal profile.
The main thing they have in common is excellent craftsmanship resulting in cleanness of tone.
In terms of pianos from the United States, while there still are 3 US-based piano manufacturers, the classic American sound really just means the Steinway sound, as opposed to the Baldwin or Mason & Hamlin sound.
Japanese pianos are either going to be from Kawai or Yamaha, and these two manufacturers offer pianos that sound widely different from one another. To say there is a Japanese sound isn’t really accurate.
To summarize, while countries have generally consistent quality levels, the idea that all pianos from one country sound the same is not accurate.
Mistake #8: Assuming All Grands Are Better Than Uprights
Here’s another one that comes up all the time – shoppers assuming that baby grand pianos are always superior to upright pianos.
The fact is, grand pianos are not automatically better than upright pianos, plain and simple.
In fact, there are many instances where the quality of the materials and the execution of design on an upright piano will produce a more preferable musical experience than a grand piano of the same price.
This is a general guideline, but we have often found that if you’re seeking a grand piano with exactly the same fit and finish, material quality and design sophistication, you need to approximately double your budget from what a comparable upright piano would cost.
For example, if you were looking at a $20,000 upright piano, you would have to jump to approximately the $40,000 or $50,000 price range to get a grand piano that would be of equal overall quality.
Now, the aesthetics of a grand piano are unbeatable in a living room and the physics of the action come with their own benefits that may mean an otherwise lesser quality grand piano will still be a better piano for you, especially if you’re serious about advancing through piano lessons.
But don’t assume that simply choosing a grand over an upright, in all cases, is always going to produce a superior musical experience.
Mistake #9: Not Considering Uprights Under 48 Inches
This one is a classic. Many people think they shouldn’t entertain an upright piano under 48” in height if they’re going to be doing the serious playing, likely due to something they heard from their piano teacher.
This idea likely came from the fact that the Yamaha U1 is 48” in height and is by the far the best-selling upright piano in North America over the last few decades. In Germany, the most common upright piano size is about 47” in height, so this belief simply doesn’t exist in the mind of consumers there.
The 48” mark is in reality arbitrary. If you automatically draw this line in the sand, you’re cutting yourself off from some fantastic options that come in under this mark.
The fact is, there are many excellent upright pianos available as small as 43”, so we would recommend considering uprights of all sizes.
Mistake #10: Shopping Dynamic
The very last item on our list is a little bit touchy, but we’ve seen this derail the shopping process many times and that is having convoluted decision-making dynamic.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with different family members or a buying group making the final decision of which piano to go with, and having a strong degree of feedback will help in narrowing things down.
But once things have been narrowed down is where having multiple decision-makers can be quite problematic. Choosing a piano after you’ve made sure that you’re in the right category and working with the right budget is extremely personal.
Somebody needs to be designated to take the lead at the very last stage and be the one to musically crown the winner. We’ve seen the entire process gets entirely derailed when there are too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak.
It’s highly recommended that the person whose primarily going to be playing the instrument have the final say. After all, they’re the ones who will be spending countless hours in front of the piano when all is said and done.
Closing Thoughts
We hope you’ve found this article helpful. As we said in the intro, we at Merriam Pianos have helped thousands of families and individuals choose a piano over the years here at Merriam Pianos, and the above-listed 10 mistakes are extremely common.
If you’re able to avoid the mistakes we’ve listed, the odds greatly increase that you’ll end up with the right piano for you, whether you’re getting ready to learn piano for the first time, or highly experienced pianists and everything in between.
Thank you for reading our piano buying tips and happy shopping!
