Upright pianos

[lksmks792]

My 20 year old trusty digital Roland died this morning after many hours of suffering my enthusiasm.

I've long decided its replacement would be a 'proper' upright, but I've never really thought about which make or even the cost of one. Turns out (who would've thought) there's a lot between different makes and models.

I'm not a classical or technically proficient piano player by any stretch of the imagination but I do play a lot (accompanying myself or my wife singing). Therefore I'm not looking for anything 'pro' by any means, a decent base model would do. Are there any recommendations? Ideally I'm looking to buy second hand (I'm in Belgium so recommendations of stores in the UK aren't very useful). Thank you very much!

Edited 7 hours ago by lksmks792
Typo in the title

[Rosie C]

If I was buying a new upright now I'd probably start my search with a Yamaha B2. 

 

I've just sold my Kawai digital. I liked that it could do harpsichord, and I liked not having to heat the room or pay for tuning, but it lacked the soul of a 'real' piano.

 

 

[BigRedX]

I can't help you with piano recommendations, but bear in mind the following:

 

1. There is no volume control or headphones socket on an upright piano, and when played enthusiastically they can be loud. May be a concern if you have neighbours with adjoining walls.

 

2. They are big and heavy. check that you'll be able to get it into whichever room you want to have it in. I had to turn down the family upright piano because it wouldn't fit around the corner at the top of the stairs, assuming I would have been able to get it up the stairs in the first place.

 

3. As has been said you need to factor the annual tuning cost.

 

4. Don't buy anything with a wooden frame. I will never stay in tune in a modern heated house.

 

5. However it should be possible to get something serviceable for free. Here in the UK people can't even give away old upright pianos. So if the situation is similar in Belgium and you are prepared to wait and see what is available you could end up with something nice for the cost of transport and a full service and tune once it installed at your property.

[Rosie C]

8 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

5. However it should be possible to get something serviceable for free. Here in the UK people can't even give away old upright pianos. 

 

This is also my experience. We gave our baby grand for free to a local school. The upright we had before that the guy who delivered the baby grand took it away for free 'as a favour'.

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Rosie C

[Skinnyman]

Kawai and Yamaha are about the only two that seem to have any real resale value and even then the depreciation on a new piano is huge. We bought a Kawai K300 a few years ago and it’s a lovely intermediate-level instrument. It does, however, need room for the sound to “blossom” and when we moved house we ended up with it in a smaller room that, no matter how we treated it acoustically, made it painful to play at any volume. 
With hindsight, we should have bought one of the hybrid pianos but in the end we swapped it for a Kawai digital.

The market nowadays seems to be swamped with Chinese pianos that have European-sounding names but no real heritage - I’m sure like most things from China these days they’re fine instruments and I daresay one could get a lightly-used example for a bargain price. 
If I was buying a new piano today, even if I lived in a mansion, I’d go with a Yamaha or Kawai hybrid that allowed silent playing.

[itu]

But it is possible to make a bass from an upright piano! That's possibly the best future for an old acoustic, if the wood is wood, not particleboard. 

 

Like @BigRedX said, think about the tuning. If the piano was left without it for several years, retuning requires several times and some money. 

[chris667]

I think you should go to a dealer. Most privately sold pianos are beyond economical repair.

 

Beyond that, you need to go by the sound. Renting a secondhand piano for a few months could save you a lot of money.

 

It's hard to recommend a particular brand because so many of the piano makers merged and just became badges on pianos that were made in anonymous Asian factories.

 

A venue at a place I play at fairly regularly got rid of their ex-school Knight upright which was nearing the end of its life with a three year old piano which was donated to them. It was scrapped as it was unrepairable. Avoid cheap new uprights.