One of the  most terrifying experiences for most pianists (besides coming to a lesson ill prepared) is purchasing a piano. Buying a piano ranks right up there with buying cars, houses and one notch above root canals. The reason people experience trepidation over these life endeavors stems from a lack of trust in a stranger who makes a living selling them their product. Consumers are bombarded with so many claims, graphs, color charts, misinformation and fancy words from so many different sources, their heads start to spin. It’s no wonder the more one shops around for a piano, or whatever, the more confused one becomes. In fact, regarding pianos, some people experience more trauma in making a selection than in choosing a car, a house,  or an oral surgeon! Allow this humble servant of the keys to give some “sound” advise, clear up some piano gobbly-gook fog and try and stop your head from spinning. No endorsement of dealers or manufacturers will be found here. After all... I have your best interests at heart (besides, I might be able to sell you my services) really. 

        Several years ago a respected piano company developed an eight point format to evaluate a piano. Each area will carry different weight depending on the wants and needs of each pianist; and because choosing a piano is such a personal endeavor, an instrument which would be turned down by one, will be marvelous for another, so the sequence of these areas is not in any order of importance.

         RESPONSE: The more advanced the pianist,  the more important the response. How the piano reacts to the pianist’s touch describes response. Advanced pianists can and do overplay lesser quality pianos. For instance, one manufacturer expects it’s vertical piano to repeat a note six times per second while the expectation for it’s grand piano is twice that amount! Action design,  regulation, materials used in producing the action and technique used in making the action will determine how the action responds. If you are a novice and feel you lack enough knowledge about pianos, don’t hesitate to find someone who does to help inform you. This last statement, of course, applies to all other areas pertaining to the subjective aspect of the piano.

         SOUND: Also known as the voice of the piano, the sound for most people is the most important area in selecting a piano. Again, this is a very personal area and is the accumulation of all the physical attributes of the piano. The way the piano is regulated, materials used and the way they are assembled all affect the sound of the instrument. What makes this such a difficult area to judge is the fact you are dealing with an intangible, obscure concept. It’s easy to compare two pianos, side by side and talk about subtle differences in sound. It is quite another matter to “A - B” two pianos when they are twenty miles apart and in different environments.

          MATERIALS: Materials will affect the sound and longevity of a piano. However, do not base your final decision on purchasing a piano on materials alone. Because materials are  tangible (“We use a solid wood core NOT particle board”), dealers often focus primarily on them to help sell their product. They  also are often used as a smoke screen overly emphasizing less important facets of the piano making this area the one which starts heads spinning.

         One great materials misinformation scam, a certain manufacturer used, was to promote the fact they used bell metal in their cast iron plate. This gave the impression to the prospective buyer of superior iron which would enhance the tonal beauty of the piano. The fact is, if the plate did vibrate and “add” to the sound it would only vibrate at one frequency and more than likely be out of tune (I’m not sure how to tune a cast iron plate). Manufacturers avoid metal that would “sing” so they use the cheapest iron they can find... pig iron because the purpose of the plate is to add structural strength to withstand the tremendous tension of the strings not to contribute to  the tone. Another materials “hype” regards the soundboard. Solid soundboards are agreed to sound better than multi-laminate boards. However, multi-laminate boards don’t crack.

        So how do you sift through all this propaganda and decide what information to keep and what to haul off to the garbage bin? Use materials as a supportive reason when buying a piano. “I like the way it sounds AND the hammers have hornbeam moldings!” Not, “Honey, the piano has a maple rim, the finish is seventeen times thicker than the other piano and most of the keys work!” Ask intelligent questions like how does this space age material affect the touch, tone and/or longevity and demonstrate it. Remember, all manufacturers have reasons regarding materials why their piano is better than the other guy’s. Be skeptical. Or as they said around the piano stores in ancient Rome, caveat emptor et pianetto. Which means, watch out for curly haired piano salesmen. 

        CONSTRUCTION: Not much has to be said of craftsmanship. It doesn’t take long when looking at different pianos to notice that some pianos look like a blueprint come to life and others don’t. Notice evenness, or lack thereof, in the touch and tone of the piano. Look at the spacing of action parts. Look at the finish... carefully. Look inside and underneath (for grands). Don’t be afraid to snoop around. Look for consistency, cleanliness and care. One company used to tighten the hinge screws so the phillips heads were uniformly lined up. Wow!   

        FURNITURE STYLE: This is a self explaining point on the piano check list. As a tuner, this carries little importance. If I were an interior decorator it would probably be the most important. As an owner, it should be somewhere in the middle.

        REPUTATION OF THE MANUFACTURER: Leaving the showroom and entering the office... as a buyer, this point needs to be considered. Has the manufacturer been around for a while? Have you even heard of the maker? The number of manufacturers in today’s market is a drop in the bucket compared to pre-depression days. At one time there where over two hundred piano makers in this country. Today you can count on one hand the number of domestic piano makers. This means if you’re looking at a used piano, if you don’t recognize the name, it doesn’t mean the piano is a poor quality piano. It means you have to do a little research and find out what kind of fish is at the end of your line. 

        WARRANTY: Another topic which should be considered before purchasing a piano is the warranty. This not only ties in with the manufacturer but also the dealer. The way I’ve seen warranties work goes something like this... The customer discovers a problem. The tuner assesses the situation to determine whether there is a problem or if the customer is nuts (can be hard to differentiate). The tuner remedies the problem or relays it the dealer. The dealer tries to make the customer happy by servicing the piano in the home, taking the piano to the shop for larger repairs or exchanges the piano. The dealer then contacts the manufacturer to be reimbursed, exchange instruments or decide what other action to be taken. A lot of warranty work is handled through the dealer and the manufacturer never touches it as most work is minor repair. However, it sure is nice to have some kind of warranty if green wood was used in making the bridge if  it starts to split and separate from the soundboard!

        VALUE: Last but not least is the culmination of all the topics with the price thrown in. This is where your final decision is made. All of the previous topics should bear on your decision and each will carry different weights for different people. Decide how much you want to spend and place that amount in the pan of the scale of “piano choice”. Then see how many goodies you can put in the other pan. The piano which gives you the most bang for your buck is the piano you should choose.

        To some people a piano is just a piano. So it’s an easy choice... pick the color they want. To others, a piano is a vehicle to release emotions, to discipline oneself, to achieve tremendous joy, to work, to create. These are the people whose heads spin when shopping for a piano because it’s difficult to use logic to make an emotional decision. The way a piano plays and sounds should be paramount. The other topics should carry less weight. Using a balance of your ears, your mind and your heart and you won’t go wrong in choosing the piano which is right for you. Happy hunting

Steve Hornbeck, Piano Technician

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