Whether new or used,
what qualities should you look for in a piano? A piano should
be good enough that it is rewarding to play, after all, learning
the piano is hard work, and if a piano plays poorly or sounds
terrible, that can be quite discouraging, especially to young
beginners.
Some basic guidlines:
Size
Choose a piano that
is as large as you have room for. A miminum of a 45 inch Upright
piano or a 5 foot four inch Grand piano is recommended. A good
piano needs to be at least this long because of its strings. When
a piano's strings are too short, the piano is less tunable and
has a sound that is not pure. Larger pianos have a deeper bass
range and a more even and pure tone overall.
A Note about Spinets
Spinet pianos are
not recommended for four reasons. First, because of extremely
short strings, the Spinet has a sound that is impure and hard
on the ear, and isn't very inspiring to learn on. Second, the
Spinet has an indirect blow action, which is inferior to a direct
blow action used in normal uprights. Combined with shorter keys
(which have less leverage), the Spinet action has limited responsiveness,
and it is difficult to control loud and soft and to play cleanly.
This is not what would encourage a youngster. Third, Spinets were
the bottom of the product line, and almost all brands cut corners
on parts, quality, and workmanship. Fourth, Spinets have low resale
value.
I must say at this
point that not every Spinet is all bad, and there are lots of
them still in use. Buying one just isn't recommended.
Condition of piano
If you are looking
at a piano to buy, you may insist that the seller have it tuned
if it has not been in the past year or so. Just as it is a good
idea to call a mechanic to check out a car, it is a good idea
to make an appointment with your piano technician to evaluate
a piano you're going to purchase. There may be things that a piano
techician could point out that could allow the buyer to negotiate
a lower price, or the technician could discover a major flaw which
may not be apparent to the buyer that would make it a questionable
purchase, thus preventing a costly mistake..
A Piano from a
Piano Technician
You may consider
buying a piano from a piano technician who has located a piano
that is a quality instrument, then cleaned, inspected, serviced,
and tuned it. Please see the Current
Pianos section.
Piano Actions
An Upright piano
has a direct blow action. The action sits on top of the keys on
the inside of the piano. It is superior to an indirect blow action
(see Spinets above).
A Grand piano has
an even more sophisticated action, with more parts that allow
for faster repetition and greater control of loud and soft.
Piano Nomenclature
Upright Grand is
a label that makers once put on pianos as a marketing tool. A
piano is either an upright or a grand, an an Upright Grand is
simply a large upright.
Baby grand is a
term not used by piano makers but by a lot of pianists and piano
owners. Many people with 5'8" or 6'1" grands think they
have a baby grand, when in fact a baby grand is usually 4'11"
or 5'1". Again, it is either an upright or a grand. And no,
I do not recommend buying a piano that is so small.
A note about Piano
Retailers
Unfortunately, going
to a piano retailer can be much like going to buy a used car.
High pressure sales tactics may result in a "what will it
take to put you in this piano today?" kind of experience.
Potential buyers need to beware of this and should not give their
hard-earned money to support this sort of operation. In addition,
there are so many brands and choices, and names that can be misleading.
You may think a new Kohler and Campbell is an American made piano,
or how about an Everett? Think again.
Worse yet are operations
that claim to sell "reconditioned" pianos, but in reality
are selling pianos that have only been cleaned and maybe repaired
to the point of basic functionality. "All the notes work!"
is just not good enough. The buyer should demand a detailed list
of exactly what work has actually been perfomed. If the retailer
balks, that is a very good sign that you should walk out the door
immediately.
I do not want to
paint every retailer as dishonest, but I have seen example after
example of people and pianos falling prey to operations that only
care about making a buck.
A new piano from
a Retailer can have problems too. Manufacturers vary in the amount
of preparation given to new pianos, some rely on the individual
retailers to do a significant amount of the tuning and regulation.
This shifts the burden to the dealer and their staff technician,
whatever his level of competency may be.
This lack of proper
preparation varies across the industry, I have even encountered
Steinway grands that were grossly underprepared. A good piano
technician can spot this, and see that the dealer, not the buyer,
ends up paying for the necessary work.
Resources
The Piano Book by Larry Fine is a good reference
for the novice and professional alike, it is filled with facts;
however, it offers a lot of opinion as well so I recommend that
people try to be aware of the difference.
So what does Mark
Roth own?
I have two pianos.
Both were manufactured around the turn of the twentieth century
by A.B. Chase in Norwalk, Ohio. I have a grand that is in need
of a complete rebuild, and also an upright that is in good enough
condition to use as is, though I plan to gradually replace the
key bushings, the bass strings, the hammers, etc. The upright
is massive. It is constructed of bird's eye maple with mahagony
veneer, carvings and bevels, and has nickle plated hardware. It
stands 58 3/4 inches off the floor, and the bass bridge is 18
3/4 inches long, resulting in a deep and powerful bass. (The bass
bridge in a similarly sized Kurtzmann grand was only 16 1/2 inches.)
The large size also gives the piano a rich tenor range, and it
has unbelieveable sustain. It features a true sostenuto pedal
(Debussy friendly!), and a lost motion compensator on the soft
pedal. (Using the soft pedal on a typical upright puts the action
out of regulation while the pedal is down, thus rendering it all
but useless for the serious pianist. The lost motion compensator
fixes this.)
To my knowledge,
nothing comparable is being made today. A.B. Chase pianos are
among the finest pianos ever made.
How about a new
piano?
In my opinion, the
finest quality pianos made today come from Germany, especially
those made by Bechstein, Seiler, and Grotrian. These pianos often
command a premium price as well.
In a more moderate
price range, I believe you would have a hard time going wrong
with a piano made by Yamaha or Kawai. Quality control at both
of these companies is impeccable, and they are definitely worth
the slightly higer price than other consumer pianos on the market
today.