Buyer's Guide - General Information |
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Buying a Piano
You've decided to buy a piano, potentially the center of your home, and a source of your families education, expression and enjoyment. Whether young or old, player or not a piano is a major purchase deserving your serious consideration.
Buying a piano should be a happy rewarding experience and most of the time it is! You want and deserve to be happy with your purchase with its tone, touch, appearance, durability and investment value over the years. All of these things are important to you. You have every right to expect that your piano investment is sound. In this guide we'll cover the most important factors to consider before buying your next piano.
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What are the most important things to consider when purchasing a piano?
There are many things that must be taken into consideration when shopping for a piano. Here we'll go over the most important (and commonly overlooked) factors to consider when looking at a piano.
Tone and Touch
These are the two most important factors to consider. Because personal opinions vary greatly, it's important for the primary player to be sure that they're satisfied with the feel and sound of the instrument.
Durability
If you're shopping for a used piano, it is very important to have a registered piano technician inspect the piano to ensure that there are no current or future problems with the instrument. Every used piano at Piano Craft is thoroughly inspected by expert piano technicians before it ever ends up on the show room floor. When shopping for a new piano, it is very important that the instrument comes from a reputable manufacturer with a proven track record of producing quality instruments. Here at Piano Craft we ensure that all of our piano lines are of the highest caliber. Many people don't understand the huge range of different quality levels in the piano world. Often times, people don't realize that when they try to save a little bit of money up front by purchasing a lower quality instrument, that they'll actually be spending more in the long run. More frequent tunings and maintenance, cracked soundboards, warped materials, and many other problems are common among lower end instruments. The repair and maintenance costs add up fast, and before they know it, they're stuck with an unusable instrument or thousands of dollars in repair costs. Choosing a manufacturer with a strong history of consistent quality and excellent customer service should be high on your priority list.
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Piano Types
There are two basic types of pianos grand pianos and vertical pianos. Vertical come in several sizes the smallest are spinets, which are about 36 inches high. Next highest are the pianos commonly called consoles. They are approximately 40 to 44 inches high. Professional studio pianos are the largest and range anywhere from 45 to 52 inches high.
Whatever the height, all vertical pianos have the same footprint how much floor space they consume roughly five feet by two feet plus the space for the bench while playing the piano.
Spinet pianos enjoyed great popularity years ago, but there are very few manufactured today. the compressed size compromises, and thereby slows, the quality of the action Most manufacturers today prefer console or studio pianos due to their superior touch, tone, and musical qualities.
In the last decade digital pianos have come to the forefront of the piano world. The technology available today is simply amazing compared to the analog synthesizers of yesterday. Please see the Digital vs. Acoustic piano article for a more in depth look at the modern digital piano. |
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