I WANT THAT PIANO!
(a short guide for first time piano buyers)
   by John Geist, master piano tuner

     You might live in Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, Marin or Sonoma Counties in California or anywhere else in the world.  Still, deciding on your first piano is a big deal.  I mean it.  Your reasons may be that you are already a pianist, or a beginner, or your child is now involved with taking lessons or will be, or you want to decorate and a piano would look nice or variations on these themes.  But what ties them together is you love the piano.  Admit it.
    O.K.  What to get? Well you have lots of financial resources and lots of space.  Something great comes to mind.  How about an Imperial Bosendorfer.  This is a huge piano with a giant reputation somewhat longer than the usual concert grand with bass extended down several notes just in case the normal concert grand you see in symphony concerts looks too puny at 9 feet.  There are a few concert grands that reach into the 6 figure dollar mark.  This is one of them.
    But you’re a fine pianist as well as wealthy with a 40,000 square foot cottage you call home. You know what?  I think the 7 ft. grand is a much better instrument and less expensive as well.  Concert Grands muffle the high treble in serving up a cleaner and more powerful bass.  Personally, a 7 foot grand will be my pick for myself when I retire. 
    But I will choose a 7 ft. piano by Chickering or Steinway, Bechstein, Mason-Hamlin or some other major brand built in the 1920’s golden age of pianos.   And I will rebuild it which means replacing the moving action parts with the best parts made in the world today (Renner, Germany) and restring it and refinish it and bring all of its brass to a mirror shine and I will voice it and tune it daily until it sings effortlessly and takes away my breath.
    Even if I were to pay a fine rebuilder to do this work for me, my total cost going for the best musical instrument result in a piano is likely to cost me about half of the price of a new 7 footer but it will have a soundboard seasoned for 80 or 90 years.
    And the tone and touch will fit me exquisitely as a working artist.   Count on it.  For now, I’ll just have to limp along with my daughter’s Bechstein grand until she leaves for college.
    But you are not a pianist so far. You would like to become one with lessons for enjoyment or even to become skilled and musical enough to become a working pianist.  Or  you would like to offer this potential for your child or grandchild.  You are not rich and don’t live in the Taj Mahal.
    Well, If you can afford a few thousand dollars, I would recommend a 5’6” to 6 ft. used grand that seems to function well.  Consider a Yamaha or Kawai that’s a few decades old but sounds good to you with a nice touch.  I will generally favor grands because, well regulated, the grand action is capable of double the speed of a vertical piano with a wider dynamic range with superior sensitivity.  Indeed, you may find that your spinet or console or upright never seems to perform up to the joy that your teacher’s piano delivers. 
    Start with a piano that will seduce you daily to running your hands over her lovely keyboard.  You will not regret it.
   But suppose space, money and skepticism in your child’s surge of interest lead you to purchase a used console for a few hundred dollars.  That is O.K.  In fact, that may be the musical instrument you come to love.  Your reasoning might be “Well, we’ll move Joey or Sally up to a baby grand if she sticks with the lessons”.  This is O.K. provided you don’t strap a child with so poor an instrument that obstacles to her musical growth are in the piano itself. 
    Here, get a console…something 40 inches or higher.  Stay away from “free” uprights more than 75 years old, bird cage actions (most built in the U.K. or South Africa) square grands (furniture more than musical instruments) or drop actions.  These are very short vertical pianos with several extra parts to make the actions possible in a small body and that add debilitating sluggishness to the touch.  They also have such short thick bass strings, it’s difficult to tell what the pitches are. They sound like poor cousins to well built grands.
    I like the Yamaha, Kawai, Young Chang and the Bechstein Group consoles.  When I was a young tuner over 30 years ago, I really admired the U series medium uprights by Yamaha.  Hold out for one of those if you can put the money together.
    And spend a few bucks to hire a piano tuner to check out any piano you think you might want to purchase.  Or tell him what you want, what your needs and limitations are and pay him a little to research where you should look. If you are not an expert in pianos, this small expenditure will pay you big dividends down the road.
    Finally, if your karma lands you a half century old drop action Baldwin Acrosonic but you are wild about music, forget everything I just said. This is your baby.  Tuner her up so her sounds smile and play til your heart's overflowing.  That's what I had when I first launched my composing career.  And I loved that short piano.

                                                                              -John Geist,
                                                                               Master paino tuner