Please help me, there are so many different makes of piano and I am getting really confused! I presently own a very old Munt Bros. piano (1920s?) which I bought for about ?200 8 years ago. It has been a very good beginners piano for my 2 boys to learn on but it has chipped keys and the pedals don't work properly. I have been looking to buy a better one for the last 2 years but am finding it difficult to find one I like within my budge (?2,000) and which will be good enough to see my children through the higher grades. The older boy is currently preparing for Grade 6 and the younger one for Grade 5. Am I searching for the impossible? In other words, for that amount of money am I only ever going to get beginners pianos? No point in changing if I can't get something better. I have been warned against buying anything from China, but the trouble is most things do seem to have been assembled in China, even if they have very German sounding names! Also I really like the old mellow tones. Some people have suggested buying a secondhand Yamaha, but I find their sound very "bright". Any suggestions, please, as to what I should be looking for? I'd be very grateful for any advice you can give.

For your budget you should be able to get something really rather nice, even better second hand.
I don't know where you are based but I should do an internet trawl to find a dealer somewhere nearby. There is less awkwardness in a showroom than in someone's front room if you find yourself faced with an appalling specimen.
I understand what people mean about buying something Chinese but unless you have quite a large budget then they are going to be a major proportion of the market.

If you can find a used Kemble I think you will find they sound nice, and maybe a used Irmler. Irmler used to be made by Bluthner in Poland, I think (it was their second brand) but I gather the manufacture has now moved to the far East and I'm not sure if Bluthner still keep an eye on the parts quality.

As long as the money goes into the materials rather than making something that is trying to be more than it is, then there is no reason why a modestly priced instrument, even from China, shouldn't see your boys satisfactorily through their higher grades.

I'm also currently going through a similar thing. In my case however I haven't been fortunate to even own an acoustic piano! I've had a Yamaha P60 and have studied upto Grade 6 on it. After 7 years now it is starting to break down - I had to have it repaired this week, the technician fit in 3 new keys and says that it will only be a matter of months before I'd have to replace the whole keyboard :-/

I've been doing some research and went to visit a few piano shops. I'm not sure if I should buy secondhand just for the name brand sake or brand new for the quality?

I've found an Albert Weber mid-range for around ?4000 brand new. And I also saw a Kemble (English made last few) and Yamaha for secondhand around the same price.
There was a Weber grand for ?5,500 brand new I would go for that if I had the space!
I tried playing the Kemble but somehow it didn't feel or sound as right for me even though it should be a better brand. The Yamaha was too light and not much different from my digital Yamaha P60...


I'm tempted to go for the Albert Weber because it feels good and sounds so nice! It's manufactured in China but the specs are:
AAA solid spruce sound board, hard maple pin board, solid agraffes, hard maple Young Chang Premiere Action, Royal George Top Felt, Platinum Blue Full Under Felt, Soft Glide Fall Board, Vacuum Processed Cast Iron Plate, Germon Adolf Bass String, Germon Roslau Wire.

The second store I visited I tried out the classic big names like Steinway, Bluthner, etc. but it was the upright Bosendorfer that I fell in love with! I think it was at least ?20,000.
So now I'm wondering if I should try find a secondhand Bosendorfer but even then it'd probably cost around ?10,000?

There were a few brands I've yet to try such as C.Steinbech, Irmler, Perzina, Kawai...
My budget was around ?5,000 for brand new and ?2,000 for secondhand. What would you advise me to do?

Thank you for your advice mel2, I was beginning to think I was being unreasonable to expect to find something on such a small budget, but you have reassured me. I'm in Suffolk and there doesn't seem to be too many dealers in the area (the chap who sold me last piano has gone out of business) but I am going to see some tomorrow at a dealer who is only 40 mins drive away. I haven't looked at buying privately because I am worried about transporting it home and also disposing of my old one, so am reliant on finding a dealer who has got what I want. I think I'll definitely be buying secondhand because of my budget. Was in Millers in Cambridge earlier this week and really loved the sound of a new Steinbach 108 made in Pearl River, China, but I think that model is a starter piano and I was worried that it wasn't responsive enough for dynamics. I've never heard of Irmler before, so I will bear that one in mind, as well as Kemble. Tried a new Kemble at Manns in Colchester 2 yrs ago and loved it, but new Kemble is too far over budget! Thank you for your suggestions.
HKMelody - Good luck in your search, you've done very well to get up to Grade 7 without an acoustic! Just read your other post about neighbours and noise levels. Perhaps you should be looking at the silent acoustics, I'm sure I've seen some within your budget. If not silent, perhaps one with a third (practise) pedal. The Steinbach at Millers had that fitted and it really did quieten it right down.

Why the difference for secondhand? ?5,000 should buy you ?5,000 worth of piano and a secondhand piano is potentially better value for money than new. It would also then cover a fully reconditioned piano - I played some very nice reconditioned uprigthts in Oxford last weekend, which were almost all within that budget, and also a very playable Steinway upright - not reconditioned, but I think it was under ?5,000!

Once a piano is reconditioned how long would you expect its life to be? I know a piano tuner who has fully reconditioned a 1925 Strohmenger and is asking 1500 pounds for it, but I am worried that it might not have as much life in it as one built in the '70s or '80s. Would the Strohmenger be a good buy? It is an hours drive away from me, so I haven't tried it and don't know if I like the sound or touch.

I can't say. The problem is there is no legal or even agreed definition of what reconditionned means. At the best end, it would mean that the mechanism has been inspected in detail and every damaged or suspect part replaced, plus all new felts, pads, springs, tapes, etc. At the other end - not much. In reality, it all depends what is needed - a newish piano might just little work doing, but I would expect it to at least have been regulated and voiced.

My Rogers upright (circa 1910) was reconditionned in 1981 by a reputable company in Winchester (now no longer there) and is still pretty good some thirty years later. I think it could take me to Dip level (whether I can make that is another matter ). But maybe I've been lucky. That said, I am looking at replacing it, but its going to have to be a very seriously good piano to make it worth the change.

thank you I hope I will find the right one for me soon! I keep facing more problems :-/
Latest one is the staircase to my block of flats - I live on the 4th floor. A delivery guy from one of the piano stores I visited last week came by today to see if it was possible to fit a Yamaha silent U1. He said he reckons only a B1 would be possible :-( This is a starter piano and really I want a mid-range. So there is also the P series.

I'm hoping to go to a few more stores and see if they can deliver or if they have another model.





I can't justify spending GBP5000 if I don't have to on a secondhand piano, as there are alot of good ones for less probably around GBP2000 to 3000
I gave a near max. budget for a new piano as ?5000 since new ones always cost more.




also thanks for that, I will keep a look out to see if there are any with a third (practice) pedal

Good luck in finding your piano too - will be great to see what it is! :-)

Thanks for your posts. The piano dealer I went to last Fri. obviously makes all his money from Japanese models. He had 2 Yamaha U1s, 2 Yamaha U3s, 2 Kwais, and a Diapaon (which are made by Kwai). He did also have quite a few old English sounding pianos but none of these seemed to be tuned and they looked very unloved, whereas as the Japanese were all loking lovely and highly polished! Despite what I said about not likling the "bright" tone I think he must have toned some of them down for me because the sound seemed o.k. to me, unlike when I visited him 2 yrs ago and tried a Yamaha which I didn't like at all. My boys preferred one of the Yamaha U1s although after 2 hrs of trying out all 7 pianos we felt a bit "brain dead", as my eldest said. They were all quite similar and it was really difficult to work out which was better! The Yamaha U1s were going for 2,450 pounds, but he has said he will let me have it for 2,200 incl. delivery and disposing of my old piano. I am dithering now, and can't work out whether I should commit to this one or not. I have checked the serial no. and think it dates from 1978. Wonder if its good value for money?
HKMelody - are you absolutely sure you can't get the U1 delivered? It seems such a terrible shame if that's the one you liked. Our piano teacher warned us against the B series but said the Yamaha U was o.k. Don't know anything about the P series unfortunately, but no doubt others on this forum will be able to advise you. Good luck, anyway, in getting a suitable one. Its got to be good for the level of playing you are now at.

Can you get to another dealer? You don't sound 100% happy yet (not that one ever is when parting with a lot of money) and for the sake of your own peace of mind it would be good to have a comparison.
If nothing else, seeing something worse would reassure you that you were buying a good instrument from the first dealer.

I would have thought an instrument from a reliable stable from the 1970s was likely to serve you well and withstand tuning and servicing.

Yes, thanks mel2, I think you are right. I haven't really been to enough dealers/shops to make a proper comparison yet. Trouble is there aren't that many in our area so I might have to journey further afield.

That sounds like a fair price for a U1 of that age in good condition. But as that is his opening offer, if you have the nerve to bargain really hard (or have a friend that is a business buyer or similar) you might be able to get the price down a fair bit lower.

Thanks for you comment Mad Tom. I'm glad to hear that's a fair price because I'll never be able to get him any lower - I'm absolutely useless at negotiating!!

I went piano shopping again, this week. Finally found a store which sold Kawai!
I checked out several silent acoustic pianos that day - Yamaha U1, U3, B1, Kemble conservertoire...

However I found the Kawai K-2 ATX silent acoustic felt and sounded the best to me especially the acoustic side of things. I guess the digital sound wasn't as great as Yamaha's but I do have a P60 at home so I don't need another Yamaha keyboard sound.

I asked for a price quote = GBP4900 brand new incl. del, stool and tuning! Not too bad I think, compared to Yamaha's prices for their silent acoustic range.

Need to measure the lift but I doubt it would fit in there! So I think I will have to ask them to measure my staircase to see if delivery is possible.

Just wondering if anyone else on here has a Kawai silent acoustic? And how good is it after a few years? Is it a truly mid-range/pro piano. I want it to carry me further for many years to come...at least 20.





btw it was very hard for me to decide whether I liked the U3 or U1 more....there wasn't much difference between the two, apart from the GBP1000 price difference :-S
The B1 was very disappointing to me - I felt I may aswell stick to playing on the P60.
Also that day I did try out a few digital pianos, the Clavinova just in case - I was very disappointed!
It wasn't weighted enough, keys felt too plastic and I just expected more at GBP2000-3000.
Once you play, feel and listen to the acoustic piano nothing compares!
It's amazing that the silent acoustic has been invented.