Should I Buy A New Or Used Piano?

Good question.

Most people consider buying a used piano on cost grounds - you get more piano for your money if the piano is secondhand - very much like buying cars, in fact.

And just like cars you can end up paying well over the odds if you buy too cheaply in the first place as you'll end up having to pay for repairs to bits that you didn't realise weren't working properly (and the seller certainly won't tell you!)

Your first piano

For many people buying their first piano the purchase is usually to enable their children to learn to play. And a very understandable concern is 'I don't want to spend a lot of money in case this is just a passing fad'. However, this has to be tempered with the understanding that if you provide your child with a poorly prepared, out-of-tune-instrument that is hard to play then you are almost setting them up to fail.

Part of learning to play is listening to the music they are producing and if the piano they practise on is in bad shape - and will therefore sound and feel a lot different to their teacher's instrument - they will quickly become discouraged.

Another consideration is the look of the piano. It is going in your home, and you have to live with it. Ideally the piano will either be in a dedicated music room or in a main room in your home. If you can't stand the sight of it, then it will quickly be moved into the garage or somewhere else out of sight, and out of sight is out of mind - it won't get played.

The best used piano to buy

I always recommend to customers who are looking for their first piano that they don't have to buy the newest top-of-the-range instrument but they do need to choose one they can live with.

The other thing I recommend is that they have any potential purchase checked out by either our technician or by another qualified tuner-technician who will give them a report on the condition of the instrument and any immediate extra costs they may have to incur to get the piano into good playing condition.

In my next post I'll cover some of the terms you'll encounter in adverts for pianos and what they mean to you when you're looking to buy a used piano.