SUGGESTIONS FOR PIANO PURCHASE

[Peachie]

Hello everyone, I am interested in purchasing a piano for practicing. I only took 1 year of lessons in high school and my mom had sold the upright piano she had for me a long time ago. I would greatly appreciate any and all suggestions offered. Ultimately I'm looking for something that is a space saver and a money saver.(possibly something used) Any preferences on brand/model? ...etc

[AnneG]

My preference is a Steinway. If you're just using it for practicing, you can surely find a more reasonably priced alternative.

I suggest that when you have narrowed the possibilities down to a few pianos, take a piano playing friend with you. Let that person play and you sit far back to hear how it sounds. That should help with the final selection.

Anne

[blackhawkpat]

Yamaha DGX-550........ Great sound for an electric (doesn't need an amp, but can be used with one), is very affordable (under $600.00), and has a nice wood base so you can show it off as an attractive piece of furniture, too.

[mellie]

I'm not an expert regarding pianos (not an expert on anything, come to think of it), but if you're near a university, music departments usually buy new pianos every two or three years. I know that University of Alaska - Anchorage gets about 15 new pianos every year and they retire them at the end of the second year. Since they buy at discount, they sell at a bigger discount and they're usually cleaned and tuned before they're sold. You might find a pretty good deal if you're not dead-set on buying new.

[Guest]

PIANO

The above piano is a great looking and compact piano with a really nice sound.

I used to sell them

I hope the link works

[Raspbernie]

I'm not an expert regarding pianos (not an expert on anything, come to think of it), but if you're near a university, music departments usually buy new pianos every two or three years. I know that University of Alaska - Anchorage gets about 15 new pianos every year and they retire them at the end of the second year. Since they buy at discount, they sell at a bigger discount and they're usually cleaned and tuned before they're sold. You might find a pretty good deal if you're not dead-set on buying new.

You should be able to do this you will get a good well maintained instrument at less of a cost for a brand new one. All the colleges around here do this type of sale look into it in your area....

[MAM]

When the real thing is not a possibility, the Yamaha P60 is a nice instrument. It's electric and has built in speakers (but can be plugged into an amp/sound system), 88 keys & weighted action. Also, it doesn't take up a lot of space and can be moved very easily. It can be had for around $700.00. The majority of my clients seem to like it.

[MikeC]

I have a Yamaha electric synthesizer piano, with multi instruments and sound effects. It plays loud or soft, depending on how hard I press each key. An orchestration is possible with several instruments playing at the same time. It has pre-sets for many music styles. I can edit sound levels, and pan to the left or right on any sound in a song for all sound tracks(mine has 16). I like it, because I can throw-in eight batteries, and it will play anywhere with two speakers built-in. Or, add a portable ampliphier. I have found with pianos, like a baby grand, some have a shorter action, meaning you don't have to press as far as you would on other pianos. This would help in playing faster songs, maybe, with a little less effort. My Yamaha has alot of drum beats, and automatic fills, like bass, guitar, strings, etc. Later, I can edit all pre-recorded mixes and change the bass-line, etc. Plus, take out any other instrument that is pre-set, or start from scratch and create a new song.

[mellie]

Mike - reading about your Yamaha reminded me of a Lowrey organ that my second cousin (Johnny Kemm) had back in the late '60's or early '70's. I can't recall how many different instrumental sounds you could add - it had all the newest bells and whistles at the time, but it had a button you could push to switch between organ and piano and it was the first instrument I had seen with a built-in casette recorder and built-in speakers. It sounded great and was fun to play. Johnny was a local celebrity in southern Missouri and traveled around the country doing concerts to promote Lowrey organs. I just ran an internet search and found his "The Invisible Brass Band" LP on eBay - he used Lowrey's brass symphonizer on it.

Incidentally, my mom had a Steinway when I was growing up, but my baby brother has had Yamahas since the mid-'80s and will probably never own anything else.

[MikeC]

Hi, Mellie, mine is a Yamaha PSR 540. It has 16 digital tracks, for the record or playback mode. If I want, I can put two or three soundtracks on one digital track, but the problem is that I can't go back in to edit volume levels again, since every sound would be on one, then. So, I don't. In College, I always played a Steinway, and practiced on upright pianos, in practice rooms. I was surprised that this is not as large as the bigger keyboards, but it has hundreds of sounds. I can, also, enhance any sound on the edit mode. I can modulate it more, with a more 'wavy' sound, add reverb, distortion, etc. I can double a bass line, and pan two bass lines left and right or on the same pan line to make it sound even better. I like to mix two different bass sounds, sometimes for a thicker sound.

On your drums, make sure when you hook-up to a large speaker system, (when you are playing live) that you bring the drum volume down(mine has it's own track), especially for a Rock beat. The second beat hits the drums louder than the first.

A funny thing happened when I was singing live. I brought my disc to put in the keyboard with a pre-recorded song. It was for an original song for the 4th of July. It was a dramatic, emotionally moving song. I was literally finishing the lyrics about five minutes before singing, because I spent time recording the song at home. I had the drums set at 57, which was fine at home, with the two smaller built-in speakers. With the large professional speakers outdoors, it should have been 24-27 maximum, because it had a Rock beat. On other styles, the drums can be louder live. The song starts, and everything is fine, until the chorus and after. You could have heard that second drum beat a block away, I'm sure. The sound man was scrambling, and I couldn't turn around to adjust the drum track volume. It was really loud, because he had the song cranked-up already.

I, also, have a Yamaha Classical guitar, but I need to get thinner strings, I feel so that it has a crisper sound on the high notes. Next up for me, another acoustic and electric guitar, and drums, later. I'm learning drums, by listening alot.

[MikeC]

I will probably get another Classical guitar, because I just bought what the store had. Practicing is more important, until I play live again.

[Peachie]

Wow!! Thanks everyone! I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of the ideas/advice. It really means a lot to me. It is so nice to have a few really good starting points to go from instead of scratching my head in confusion.

[Peachie]

Looks like Yamaha is pretty popular. Thanks Mellie for the university idea. There just happens to be a lot of universities in my area.

[MikeC]

Hi, Peachie. All of my sounds are sampled, so they are like a live instrument. That's why I bought it. My keyboard can turn into 88 keys when I lower the octave level on the lower half, or I raise the second half. I can learn any chord, just by pressing the keys, in the accompanient mode. I can play two instruments, like piano and any one selection of strings sounds as a chord, or separately played with one note at a time. The bigger keyboard didn't have alot of the features that mine does. But, I will get a full 88 keys in the future. My friends who play live each have one.

Mellie, I've seen some of the organ players at fairs, when they bring them in to sell. What a fun job your cousin had.

[raspberrywine]

Steinway Console piano; 1937-1947 time period.

[darlene]

I remember a private student who had a Yamaha YPP 55 or something--(personal piano is what PP meant, I think). It was a digital with a GREAT sound, so the Yamahas someone suggested above might be a continuation of that series. If they didn't cheapen the product and the sound is as good, I would get one as opposed to an expensive piece of furniture. I would want beautiful timbre (tone quality) and avoid the lower-end digitals.

My old upright (the one I used to play on along with Raspberries and EC records!) was a Baldwin "Acrosonic," and it had a beautiful tone quality. I bought it in Peoria at Byerly's Music (Phil knows this store and it may still exist) in 1968, and it stood the test of time. It was a great piano, and when we acquired our vintage (1910) Mason & Hamlin 6'2 grand piano (with original ivory keys!), we sold it to the parents of a darling little girl who was beginning piano lessons. I have no doubt it's still serving her beautifully.

I don't know what Baldwins are like now. Does anyone know if they're still good? Steinways and Bosendorfers are the piano of choice if you want to spend a mint.

--Darlene

[Peachie]

Thanks everyone! I located a piano for sale and it is a CONN upright which is 23" deep x 4' 8" long(approx). Owned by a musician who plays it and 2 other Yamaha electric piano's. He said that he also tunes it himself when needed. Looks nice, yellow ivory color. Sounds really good. He was asking $300. Does anyone have any opinions on this particular piano? I also heard that it may be a good idea to put a couple pillows inside to hold the strings in place during moving? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to be proactive during moving to avoid damage to the sound board?