Haven't posted in a while, or practised much either after the grade 8 'high'...

Moving to an apartment in a city in a few months and will need to get an upright for obvious reasons, and preferably a good one since I'll finally be taking on diploma pieces seriously! Any suggestions?

It all depends on your budget, really and whether you want to buy new or secondhand (potentially more piano for your money if you are careful). Also your personal preferences eg do you like bright or mellow tone?

Ballpark figure?

Well, the problem is that I'm moving to the US, and am not sure what pianos tend to cost there.
Also, I would rather pay for a good/decent (preferably new) one since I'd regard it as a long term investment, and because I'm tired of playing on bad pianos!
At the moment I'm leaning towards a Yamaha U series, plain and simple, quite predictable in terms of quality, big company in case something goes wrong etc.

I am too concerned about tone, as long as it is clear and perfectly in tune. I'm more worried about
control, and what it 'feels' like - it must be powerful and easy to play, but not such that I drive the neighbours crazy!

Yamahas are well built and there is certainly a substantial second-hand market in the UK (there are some specialist dealers). The U3 is the one with the biggest bass etc.

If you want an idea of US prices, I'd do some Googling...

Id look at Kawai as well.

Definitely go for a Yamaha U. U1s are reasonably priced, but U3s are great!

You could look at the Yamaha Silent series too - especially if you're going to be in a flat with neighbours around you. You can play in silent mode with headphones without disturbing others. They are more expensive but it might be worth the extra if you can play it more often/late in the evenings etc. I have a Yamaha U3 silent.

One of my friends has owned Kwai pianos and they were also particularly good to play in terms of touch/tone etc. Kwai also have a silent system although when I tried it on a second hand piano, it wasn't such a good sound as the Yamaha one. This was a few years ago when I was piano shopping.

Thanks, will definitely put the Yamaha U3 and U on top of the list - I love Kawai grands, but
struggle to get a good sound out of the uprights for some reason. It's exciting, can't wait to try as many of them
out as possible:-)

We have a Steinway Essex - which is fabulous. It plays like something that cost twice the price.