Category_Used Piano Advice
Which Used Acoustic Piano Should I Buy? What To Look Out For & Avoid!
• Rimmers Music Blog
For a number of years, more than most! In the music business, I’ve heard, neutered, gathered and learned many different viewpoints of what to look for when buying a second-hand acoustic piano. Things you must ask find out and know about the instrument you may want to buy.
Firstly, I would say buy your instrument from a reputable music retailer, we are musicians ourselves, and we love selling musical instruments to musicians, it’s our reputation.
Many older instruments these days, from around the turn of the century or the 30s, 40s or 50s have generally not been regularly tuned, let alone any maintenance done on them throughout their life and have been not been played for a number of years. It’s often said to me “it’s a beautiful piece of furniture” BUT it’s what’s going on inside the piano that matters. Would you buy a second-hand car if it had no engine!! There are many factors that contribute to the deterioration of the usefulness of an instrument over time, and why again you must find out as much as you can about an instrument you are looking at.
If you see “free to good home “honestly! don’t bother, it means 1 of 3 things, It can’t be tuned (or won’t stay in tune and a tuner has said to get rid of it !) They have tried to sell it, but it’s too old and nobody wants it! Or they have enquired for somebody to dispose of it but realised this costs an amount of money to do (these things are not easy to move), so they offer it “free to good home “for someone else to take it away!
Pianos from yesteryear, the woods used weren’t treated as they are today, and don’t stand up to modern central heating systems very well. It all dries out leading to shrinkage, particularly of the Beech pin block, which is at the top of a piano, which holds the tuning pins, this shrinks, making the holes that the pins are in bigger, hence they slip and the piano won’t stay in tune.
If a piano “has been restored” check who has done this and there should be a listing of what has been done and when! These days, the general feeling, it isn’t worth restoring many pianos of a great age, because it does cost a few thousand pounds even on an upright model, and they are still an old piano at the end of it.
If you are looking at buying a piano privately, my advice, it is worth paying a tuner/technician (around £65-£70) to go along with you and check the instrument over for you.
Here at Rimmers Music, across 5 of our 9 branches, we sell new acoustic pianos but also a good range of “Young” second-hand acoustic pianos, ranging between 7-15-25 years old, all with a “service history”! If you like, of being regularly tuned, at least 1-2 times a year, and kept in generally good condition. When they arrive in the store they are checked over and tuned by our own Tuner/technician Garyth. We include a tuning a month after delivery to allow your instrument to acclimatise to its new surroundings, where Garyth would come along, tune and check your piano over so that it is playing at its best. We also offer tuning packages, where you can buy 4 tunings as a package for the price of 3, and Garyth would diarise his visits to you over the years ahead, again to keep your piano at its best.
I hope I have offered some “food for thought” to you, if you are thinking about purchasing an acoustic piano, if you need any help at all, please do call us at any of our branches or email us at customerservice@rimmersmusic.co.uk
Many older instruments these days, from around the turn of the century or the 30s, 40s or 50s have generally not been regularly tuned, let alone any maintenance done on them throughout their life and have been not been played for a number of years. It’s often said to me “it’s a beautiful piece of furniture” BUT it’s what’s going on inside the piano that matters. Would you buy a second-hand car if it had no engine!! There are many factors that contribute to the deterioration of the usefulness of an instrument over time, and why again you must find out as much as you can about an instrument you are looking at.
If you see “free to good home “honestly! don’t bother, it means 1 of 3 things, It can’t be tuned (or won’t stay in tune and a tuner has said to get rid of it !) They have tried to sell it, but it’s too old and nobody wants it! Or they have enquired for somebody to dispose of it but realised this costs an amount of money to do (these things are not easy to move), so they offer it “free to good home “for someone else to take it away!
Pianos from yesteryear, the woods used weren’t treated as they are today, and don’t stand up to modern central heating systems very well. It all dries out leading to shrinkage, particularly of the Beech pin block, which is at the top of a piano, which holds the tuning pins, this shrinks, making the holes that the pins are in bigger, hence they slip and the piano won’t stay in tune.
If a piano “has been restored” check who has done this and there should be a listing of what has been done and when! These days, the general feeling, it isn’t worth restoring many pianos of a great age, because it does cost a few thousand pounds even on an upright model, and they are still an old piano at the end of it.
If you are looking at buying a piano privately, my advice, it is worth paying a tuner/technician (around £65-£70) to go along with you and check the instrument over for you.
Here at Rimmers Music, across 5 of our 9 branches, we sell new acoustic pianos but also a good range of “Young” second-hand acoustic pianos, ranging between 7-15-25 years old, all with a “service history”! If you like, of being regularly tuned, at least 1-2 times a year, and kept in generally good condition. When they arrive in the store they are checked over and tuned by our own Tuner/technician Garyth. We include a tuning a month after delivery to allow your instrument to acclimatise to its new surroundings, where Garyth would come along, tune and check your piano over so that it is playing at its best. We also offer tuning packages, where you can buy 4 tunings as a package for the price of 3, and Garyth would diarise his visits to you over the years ahead, again to keep your piano at its best.
I hope I have offered some “food for thought” to you, if you are thinking about purchasing an acoustic piano, if you need any help at all, please do call us at any of our branches or email us at customerservice@rimmersmusic.co.uk