If you buy your piano from a reputable music store, you can be pretty sure that it will be in good working condition. If you are purchasing a piano from a private owner, there are things that you need to look for.
I know that there are a lot of women want a piano that is going to look good in their living room—match up with the prevailing wood and colors. I have met them. If you are looking for a used piano, I beg of you: Don’t make the look or cabinet condition of the piano your primary focus. The most important factors should be the play-ability and the sound.
The first thing you need to do is check the sound board. That’s the wood in back of the strings that amplifies the sound of the strings as they are struck by the hammers. It’s not one piece of wood—it’s several pieces glued together. If you see cracks or that it’s coming apart at the seams, say ‘thank you for your time’ and move on. You can get all sorts of annoying buzzes and strange sounds from a broken sound board. If you are looking at a grand piano, you will have to lay on your back under the piano and look up at the sound board. You need to pull uprights away from the wall and look at the sound board in the back.
Next, play all the keys to see if they work. Start at one end and play every black and white key. If they are sticking, it might just be that the piano hasn’t been played in a while or that a bridle tape (which pulls the hammer back into place on uprights) is broken. If you don’t get any sound, it can be a broken key or hammer that will have to be repaired. Also, if any strings keep playing after you have lifted your finger off the key, your dampers (triangular pieces of felt which fall against the strings after the key is released) will need to be adjusted or replaced.
Also, listen to the tune of the piano and ask the owner about the tuning history. A piano that hasn’t been tuned in years may cause you problems. It may not hold a tune or may have dropped so low in pitch that there is danger of string breakage if it’s brought up to standard pitch. A piano that is lower than A440 but holds a tune with itself may not be a problem if no one in your house has perfect pitch or if you don’t plan to play along with band instruments. If the piano has been recently tuned and is out of tune, there might be loose tuning pins, which is a big, expensive problem to fix. Young beginners need a piano that stays in tune. It is crucial to the development of the musical ear.
Lift the lid of a grand or remove the front of an upright to inspect the keys and dampers. If any are missing or look very worn out, you will need to have them replaced. Pianos that have deep string cuts in the hammers will have a harder, brighter sound than a piano with softer hammers.
The harp is the massive metal frame to which the strings attach. At one end, the strings wrap around tuning pins. At the other end, there is a wooden bridge with metal pins. The strings have loops at one end that attach them to the bridge. Examine that piece of wood for cracks. It is very costly to replace a bridge. You can have a cracked bridge and a functional piano, but you’re better off to look for a different piano because it is a problem that will only get worse. To see the bridge on an upright piano, you will have to remove the kick plate above the pedals on the piano.
At the same time you are examining the bridge, check the pedals. Some pianos have two, some have three. The left pedal is the una corda, or soft, pedal. On a grand, it will shift the action to the right so that the hammers strike fewer strings. On an upright, it will move the hammers towards the strings to shorten the striking distance. The right pedal is the damper pedal, which lifts the dampers off the strings so they will continue to ring. Look at them to see if anything appears to be broken. Try both pedals to see if they are working properly. If there is a center pedal, it may be or a sostenuto pedal or it may be a decoration that doesn’t do much of anything (this is the case on a lot of older uprights). The sostenuto pedal, also called the half-damper pedal, allows the bass strings to continue to ring while the treble notes are damped. A sostenuto pedal is nice, but I wouldn’t consider the lack of one a deal breaker. Most people seldom use them.
Ask the owner to tell you the history of the piano. The best scenario is they purchased it new or in good used condition and it’s been in their climate-controlled living room ever since. The worst case is that it’s been on the front porch for the last 10 years and the city has passed an ordinance forcing them to remove it. There are lots of scenarios in between. Go to music stores on the internet and price their used pianos to get an idea of what a good price is—and a private owner will usually ask less than a store. Print this article out and take it with you when you’re looking. You may even want to hire a piano technician to check it out for you. The main thing is that you don’t want to get stuck with a lemon that will sour your child on learning to play the piano because it sounds terrible or the keys won’t work.
Wishing you a song in your heart,
Leslie Denning
www.youcanmakemusic.com
Google Buzz
or electronic keyboards. They all have different features, and the price-tag can range from really cheap to Wow-I-really-can’t-afford-this!
