Your goal is to buy a quality acoustic piano at a good price. You do not need to pay more to get a quality piano.

If you have educated yourself about pianos, you realize that if you set out to buy the cheapest thing you can find, you will regret that choice later. After all, the piano you buy will be your tool. The tone, touch and condition of the tool you buy will determine your success in playing the piano. Just as you would fail at golf with bent and broken golf clubs, so too will you fail at music if you handicap yourself with a poor piano.

A poor tool is a permanent handicap to your progress.

What many people fail to realize is that quality pianos and junk pianos are often priced the same! You do not need to pay more to get a quality piano. What you do need is information about the piano you are buying, and with the purchase of a used piano it is essential that you buy a technician certified piano with a reliable warranty from a store that has a long track record.

Insider's Information on Types of Pianos

In the piano business, there are a class of pianos that we refer to as "Made To Be Sold, Not To Be Played". These pianos are not made to last. These pianos have all the manufacturing money spent on an oversized case (furniture) and very little of the manufacturing money spent on the actual musical instrument inside the case. The uneducated consumer is the intended victim for this type of piano. These low quality pianos are sold for the same price, or even a higher price, than quality pianos.

Then there are the pianos that are "Made To Be Played". These pianos also have nice furniture, but in these pianos quality materials and hand workmanship ensure that the piano will sound as good as it looks with minimum maintenance costs for many generations. These pianos are a good value for your money.

There are also quality pianos that are overpriced, and we refer to these pianos by saying that "You're Paying For The Stencil" (the stencil refers to the manufacturer's name on the outside of the piano). Consumer education is also the key here. The pianos in this classification are fine quality pianos, but the educated consumer does not want to pay more than is necessary for no extra benefit. It is reasonable to pay more to get more, but you do not want to pay more and get the same quality you could have had for less money.

Dollars and Sense

Prices for high quality new vertical pianos start around $3000.00. Prices for high quality new grand pianos start around $8000.00. While you may occasionally see low quality new pianos advertised for a bit less than these prices, they should be avoided.

There is an enormous price range for new and used pianos in each classification, and cost is tied to several factors.

Vertical pianos range from 36 to about 52 inches tall. Grand pianos range in length from 4 feet 7 inches to about 9 feet long. Size does not determine quality and, in fact, the size of the case does not even accurately measure how "big" the piano is "inside the case" as a musical instrument. Piano size is actually measured by the string length and not the height or length of the cabinet. Junk pianos often have large cabinets with little pianos inside.

Within the same manufacturer's line a piano will tend to be more expensive as it gets taller or, with a grand piano, longer. This type of comparison does not apply between different piano manufacturers, however. Cost is also related to other factors such as quality of materials used in the piano, amount of hand workmanship in manufacturing, furniture style of the case, and even the buying power of the retail piano store.

A high volume two-store dealer like Marin Piano has more buying power, and may be able to offer the consumer a better price for a quality piano than a single-store competitor can offer on even a junk piano.

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