• Buying a used piano--how and where?
• Where to rent a piano
• How to sell a Grand Piano?
• Portable Keyboard for new piano student
• Digital Pianos
• Renting a Piano vs. Buying a Keyboard
• Buying a Used Piano
• Electronic Keyboard vs. Piano
• Piano Lessons
• Piano Movers
• Piano Tuners
• Getting an Antique Piano Appraised

Buying a used piano--how and where?

i'm interested in purchasing a used upright piano for my young children to learn and practice piano playing. any recommendations on where to buy one? i'm not looking for anything fancy. is it worth buying a used one from another family and paying extra for moving costs and tuning? pamela

Where to rent a piano

Hi everybody, Does anybody know a good place where I can rent a standing piano for a couple of months? Thanks, Sara

How to sell a Grand Piano?

Can anybody recommand what is the best way to sell a 5 feet Grand piano ? It is 3 year old and likes new. Thank you. Alice

Portable Keyboard for new piano student

My 6 year old daughter really wants to start piano lessons. I do not want to purchase, maintain and find space for a piano until she shows true commitment. I have been told it is acceptable to start by using an electronic keyboard. One friend has recommended the Yamaha DGX505 keyboard ($540 at Costco). This certainly seems nice, but is there a less expensive keyboard that would perform just as well? I am confused and would appreciate some feedback from people who know these products and beginner piano playing better. If the 505 is the highly recommended choice and will get us a few years down the road, I will spring for it. By the way, I think I will learn how to play too!

In general, the Yamaha keyboards are good - I would avoid off-brands and would definitely avoid Casio!! Yamaha is a respected company with years in the music business.

The ''short answer'' to your question: before you make a purchase, go visit a reputable piano company like Piedmont Piano in Oakland. You will get expert advice, and they both sell and rent all kinds of pianos, including electric ones. Remember, it is completely free to try out instruments, so why not try out all that you can?

The price of $500 you mentioned from Costco for a Yamaha electric piano seems a little high, especially when you consider that you get no knowledgible service from them, and there is little re-sale value on that type of instrument.

Ernie Mansfield

Digital Pianos

In the course of shopping for a digital piano, several questions have come up that local dealers have not been able to answer satisfactorily. I should note that we are looking for a piano substitute that will not alienate our neighbors during early morning practice time, so multitudes of extra voices and features are not essential. We want the best touch and feel more than anything else. 1) What is the difference between the Clavinova line and the Yamaha digital piano line (other than the looks/extra features of specific models)? 2) Is Roland still considered ''top of the line?'' 3) Are there considerations of maintenance and repair we should think about? 4)Any particularly knowledgable dealers you'd recommend? We'd like to hear the whole spectrum of opinions and experience. cld

Not sure about the sound, but Yamaha has better touch than Roland. Dealer name hard to remember, he thinks Pianos Plus in Hayward had a good selection, and made the sale by encourage demo-ing of the pianos. The sales rep at Sherman Clay was snobby & pushy. Hope that helps! Jessica

Renting a Piano vs. Buying a Keyboard

Could anyone recommend good and reasonable places in the Berkeley/Albany/El Cerrito area that I can rent a piano or buy a keyboard? If you can also explain the logistics of renting a piano (what the shop will require us to do, how we should take care of the piano, etc.), that would be great. We are starting our 6-year-old daughter in a piano lesson and need something for her to practice at home. We don't play piano and frankly know nothing about renting one. We are also considering buying a keyboard (with weighted keys as recommended by the teacher) and would like to weigh the pros and the cons of both approaches before we decide what to do. I checked the website but the information is outdated. Thank you very much.

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Catalog/Catalog_GSXOXX/0,6363,CTID%253D203400%2526CNTYP%253DPRODUCT,00.html

Anyway, our piano teacher recommended a digital piano (not a keyboard) because the have the feel of a real piano. You can read about the ''graded hammer effect'' on the yamaha website. The keys are properly weighted so the high notes are light and the low notes are heavy. The keys are standard size. Better models have better speakers and will sound better. Our 930 sounds great on headphones and not as well when played (still pretty good!) but we could improve that by hooking it up to better speakers.

Reasons to buy a digital piano instead of a traditional:

* it is always perfectly in tune. this is really important for your child's ear training

* multiple ''voices'' are fun. My daughter enjoys playing her pieces with the organ, choir or marimba sound instead of the plain old piano sound.

* record/playback features. Your child can record herself and hear how what she played sounded. Sometimes a child has a hard time hearing tempo problems or pauses when he or she is playing but they hear it easily when they play it back for themselves. ALso, they love to compose their own melodies and play them back.

* preset music: there are 50 pieces in the piano that you can play. I sometimes turn them on. THe kids like to put on the fast-paced ones and run around the house.

* if you opt for a more expensive model your child can record her songs onto CDs and save them. You can also buy accompaniments for some simple pieces, so that your child plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with an entire orchestra accompaniment. These are well done as the piano waits for your child to find and play the right note (it holds the previous note until the correct next note is played). My daughter doesn't love this feature, which the teacher sometimes uses at her lessons (she has a fancy model), but lots of other kids do.

We have had our piano for 3 years now and have never had any problems with it. I can highly recommend it.

Oh, and by the way, you can find them at Piedmont Piano. I recommend that you call several dealers. Music Exchange in Dublin/Pleasanton also sells them and so does a place in San Jose (can't remember the name, but they have dealers listed on the Yamaha website). I think the original price we saw on one it the shop was $2700, and we paid only $1850, delivered, so it pays to call around. Often they don't want to give you numbers over the phone, they want you to come in. Piedmont Piano was very nice and gave me a good number over the phone.

I looked up the local dealers on the website:

Pianos Plus
1558 A St
Castro Valley, CA 94546
510-581-1660

Music Exchange, Inc.
7704 Dublin Blvd
Dublin, CA 94568
925-828-3442

Piedmont Piano Company, Inc.
4382 Piedmont Ave
Oakland, CA 94611
510-547-8188

I'm looking for an upright piano for my daughter, beginner student. Problem is that I never played enough myself to be able to choose used piano. It seems to be a task for professional. Is there anybody in nearby area who could give a consultation? Any information will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Tanya

We would like to buy a used baby grand in time to sing Christmas carols. We'd like to know whether people have had experience with: 1) Piedmont Piano or other reputable purveyor of used pianos 2) A piano tuner/technician who could advise us/check out a piano before we buy the wrong one... Natasha

In terms of your second question (someone to advise on a piano before you buy), you might try calling Steven Benjamins. He's a tuner who lives in Lafayette and who has a studio behind his home where he rebuilds old pianos. My only experience with Steven was interviewing him for a story a few months ago, but he was personable, had a very cool workshop and had a real love for the instrument. His number is 925-284-3077. Darcy

this is a reply to the question of Stefanie, who asked in the UCB parents digest for recommendations for keyboards.

My wife is a music teacher, and she is sometimes asked if a keyboard can substitute a piano, and what brand of keyboard is worth buying. Basically, she is somewhat skeptical about keyboards since they do not give you a feeling of a real instrument. This is understandable because having played a piano 8 hours a day during 18 years of studies of misic, she knows exactly how a real piano feels. Another diadvantage of a keyboard is that it is usually narrower than the real piano (64 keys compared to about 100) - but this is really important only for advanced students of music. On the other hand, a piano is generally rather loud, and you may disturb your neighbours if you live in an apartment. For this particular reason we bought a keyboard for our daughter, although we also have a piano at home. Before we bought a keyboard, I made a survey of what is available on the market and know what is the difference between cheap and expensive keyboards.

A very important feature of a keyboard is that it shoud have touch-sensitive keys. This simply means that the it sounds louder when you hit a key harder. Usually all keyboards which cost above $200 have this feature. The cheapest keybords priced between $100 and $170 are not touch-sensitive and absolutely unsuitable for any music lessons. I actually bought "Yamaha PSR 220", which is usually sold for $220-230, but I got it on sale for $180. From my point of view, it does not make any sense to pay more than $200 for a keyboard if you buy it for a child. Keyboards which cost between $300 and $800 have the same number of keys, the same feeling, and almost the same number of voices. There is a slight difference in a number of keys which may sound at the same time. However, the major difference is that in expensive keyboards you get a sequenser (i.e., a multiple-track digital recorder), a floppy drive which you can use to store your creations, and eventually even a hard drive. By the way, this results in a much greater number of controls, which your child probably will not be able to handle. It is also worth noting that a cheaper keyboard can be connected to a computer via MIDI interface. Then, if you buy some musical software, you will also get a sequencer, and can make recording of your own music in MIDI format.

I would recommend to buy a brand name. We tried an "Optimus" keyboard (this is the Radio Shack brand), and it sounded lousy compared to Yamahas or Casios. Yamaha and Casio have about the same features for the same money, so just shop for a better price. Andrei

That will keep the expenses to a minimum while the child is able to enjoy the actual instrument, and appreciate it in full. Also, renting a musical instrument is a good way to allow your child to try new things, without making the total investment until you are certain about it. Just a suggestion. Glenn