how to choose a good piano

a lot of people in Malaysia always come across this questions when they intend to buy pianos for their kids or for themselves.

then they may spend ridiculously more than what they suppose to pay for, worse, end up in buying lousy piano. in Malaysia, most of the piano shop nowadays are selling used and reconditioned pianos, hence, to choose a good used piano it is very important as piano is a life time investment.

it is always good if you know anybody or friends who is a piano technician, bring them along to check out the condition of the piano. a good piano technician will let you know weather it is worth to pay for the piano. of course the better the piano it is always worth to pay for more, but how do we know if we do not have someone to help?

you might need to spend a little more time doing research online before you hit any piano shop, for more detail you can search through here as well http://www.pianoworld.com/buypiano.htm. you don't wanna trust and depend on all the sales people who has no knowledge of piano but only know how to demonstrate you a few songs and say everything is good good and good.

To Choose a Piano

1. look around the piano body to find out any scratches, holes, crack, then try out all the single key notes in chromatic scales from bass, middle to the treble part, do it with and without stepping the sustain pedals , this is to check all the tones are balance or not balance. ask the age or see the serial number.

2. check if there is any key stuck or weird buzzing sound

3. go to the back of the piano, check carefully the soundboard if there is any crack, holes, sign of termites, watermark, uneven boards or unprofessional touch up sign. soundboard is very important as it is the speaker of the piano, once any of matter mentioned above occurred, weird sound and tones will be created. rejected totally if the soundboard has problem even tough it is cheap.

4. next open the front panel to see what is happening in the piano. check out the piano action, i call it the heart of the piano. make sure everything inside is not too dirty and sticky as this is to ensure that all the keys repetition are smooth, fast, solid and no squeaky sound.

5. see carefully inside if there is any sign of water mark, inspect all the strings to see if there are not too rusty. also check the iron frame, which support the piano strings.

6. open the lower front penal as well to see the condition.

7. lastly, play some song and feel the piano. listen carefully and when the show room is too open , (the best way is to stand behind the piano, to listen other playing the piano, as this way you can hear much clearer because the sound come out from behind the upright piano.)
sometime you might missed certain tiny tuk sound, whereas it can only be heard when you bring back home.

once unlucky and purchased bad piano, then you might need to spent additional money to fix and repair the problem, of course if serious problem, it may cost you more. if the piano is purchased from a shop which gives you warranty, then ask them to fix it for you, if problem unsolved, then you should either change or refund, and will cost you many additional more for a better piano? or will waste your time to let you wait while the problem is in process dealing with the management.

there you go, these are some basic knowledge in choosing a piano. if everything above you have done accordingly, you might save yourself from paying extra out from your wallet. of course you can find more detail information on other website to help as well. good luck!





an upright piano action