How to Choose a Piano to Learn On

In this post we are going to look at how you should choose a piano. My own preference would always be to play a conventional acoustic piano if I could – but for many people an electronic piano is a much more practical choice. Here we will focus on the acoustic upright piano and in a future post we will look at the alternatives including electronic and grand.

The first thing to say is that there are some real problems in choosing a piano when you are not an expert. It’s much like choosing an automobile by admiring it from the outside or even by seeing how fast it drives. The appearance is not so good a clue if you do not know what is going on under the hood. Pianos are highly complex machines with many thousands of parts. If you are not careful you could be choosing one which needs a huge amount of work. This goes for new pianos as well as well as old ones. Many leave the factory needing a huge amount of adjustment by an expert to make them play satisfactorily. The golden rule is therefore that though you may not be able to take a piano technician along when you look initially you definitely need to get one to look before you actually buy. I cannot emphasis how important is having this check by an expert.

The next thing is that there’s no piano ideal for every situation and style of playing. Each piano is different and each player has their own particular needs. Despite this there are some general guideline to help you chose an appropriate model. Let’s initially look at the secondhand market. First thing is that there are some specific kinds of piano that you need to avoid under all circumstances.

Worst of all are something called square pianos. These can look like wonderful pieces of furniture and are very compact in the form of a kind of rectangular box with a keyboard on front. Sometimes they have wonderfully ornate legs and music stand. Here is an example:

These were very fashionable in Victorian times: unfortunately they are almost totally unserviceable today. Most piano technicians would not have a clue how to repair them and they would require an expert on antique instruments and many thousand so of dollars to make them work properly. Even then they would definitely not be suitable for a beginner to learn on. Fine for antique collectors they are useless to an aspiring pianist. There are many of these around in antique shops and the trade so beware…

The next definite no-no is a little more difficult to spot. This is a kind of old fashioned upright piano made at the end of the nineteenth century. The real difference is only visible inside the piano. In this case the dampers are above the hammers. When looking carefully this will be obvious now I have pointed it out. The problem with these pianos is (1) that they are almost impossible to maintain because the mechanism is inside a kind of inaccessible birdcage and (2) they made them so badly. They are the piano version of a Victorian “jerry built” house or those Lancia cars made in the 1960’s that rusted after six months. When confronted with this kind of piano you should run a mile. Something else to watch out for is the kind of old piano where all the strings run absolutely vertical from top to bottom. Though there are cases where these can be of acceptable quality it would take an expert to spot one. In the kind of piano you require as a beginner the hammers are above the dampers and the high and low sets of string have an overlap.

To make an initial assessment remove the top panel of the piano and have a look inside. Hopefully you may see something similar to this:

If you are not sure what a hammer or a damper is then simply press a key and see what happens with the mechanism visible. As you do the hammer at the top will hit the string and the then the damper below will engage as you release the key to stop the note sounding. Also look towards the left had side and see how noticeably the strings are angled left to right and are in not completely vertical. In some smaller pianos the hammers can be located much closer to the keyboard and that is acceptable but especially in very low spinet pianos can require extra mechanical complication in the action which means there is far more to go wrong.In some cases replacing these components could cost more than buying a new piano of similar quality.

Having made these initial checks there are number of further steps required. First and very basic but are the strings rusty or not? Rust on the strings will affect the tone and also suggest that the piano has been badly looked after. Are the hammers themselves evenly spaced and do they appear to be in good condition? Are any damaged or missing? Do the ends of the hammers — where they actually hit the strings — appear in good condition? The work on the hammers is called “regulation” and it can take many hours of work by a skilled technician to regulate a poorly maintained piano. As a beginner you would not be advised to try  to learn on a piano that is defective in this respect as it could be very frustrating.

Next thing to check are the tuning pins. This usually requires an expert and a torque wrench and is not something you can do yourself. Basically if the pins don’t have sufficient resistance to hold the tension of the string the piano will forever be going out of tune. An expert using a torque wrench can readily quickly spot whether this is a problem or not – if so it may mean the piano requires an expensive repair or is even unserviceable.

There are some more worthwhile checks that you can easily make with the top panel of the piano removed. In fact now it is worth removing the bottom panel as well. The most important structure of the piano is the metal frame over which the instrument is strung. This has to withstand many tons of tension from the strings – thus any cracking or damage to this frame can make the piano totally unrepairable so check the condition as thoroughly as you can.

Another vital part is the soundboard which amplifies the sound made when the hammer hits the string .This plays a major role in the character and quality of the sound the piano makes; in fact it plays the same role as the top of a guitar or violin but is obviously much larger. Any cracks in this soundboard could be costly to repair. Complete replacement of the soundboard would probably only be economically worthwhile on a very high quality piano.

One of the great problems with pianos is that they are very subject to the effects of environmental conditions. Central heating or long term dampness can totally wreck an instrument. If a piano is well looked after it can easily last for a hundred years – on the other hand should, for instance, it be placed on top of under floor central heating for a few months, it can be very quickly wrecked.

In itself the age of a piano is not so important. Some of the best pianos were built in the early part of the last century when highly skilled labor was cheap and high quality materials much more easily available. If these instruments have been well looked after and kept in reasonable condition there is no reason they should not be a great investment. Many of us spend considerable sums of money on an automobile when its value can halve in three or so years. In contrast purchase a good quality and well maintained piano for a fraction of the price and it can hold its price for many decades.

Good hunting for your piano and remember to seek the advice of an expert before you buy. Always remember that how well the piano works and sounds is far more important to the musician than how pretty or imposing is its cabinet.