Stellar Review on Pianos

I would not hesitate to by a Japanese piano manufactured in Japan... I have seen them age beautifully through rigorous use. 

A digital piano like I have is a wonderful instrument as well, with many advantages.  However, if you can get a good acoustic, get it! 

Dealing with Broken Pianos

 
Here are two sites to help: 
http://www.amadeuspianos.com/faq.htm#faq12
 http://www.balaams-ass.com/piano/chap-4.htm


It was neat to read some of the information from these sites.  For example, I never would have guessed that the best pianos were manufactured from 1920 to 1960.  Now, in the last couple of decades, the quality has mounted significantly.  

A peak in the life of a tuner:

Cut out the noise:

I tuned recently in a nice home. The folks there were not noisy because of rebellious teen agers, nor because of fighting New Joisey oldly weds (for noise, they is the woist). This home had a cockatoo that screamed a flat E all the way through the tuning, the lady of the house tried to vacuum the house in C# while I tuned, and the daughter turned on musical cartoons while I was trying to do the treble.

How and Where to Look for a Piano, Part 2

I wanted to follow up my previous post with sharing this website:

piano adoption.com  

Thanks to Music Matters Blog for posting this!

How and Where to Look for a Piano, Part 1

[Note: I forgot this post and left it unpublished from almost a year ago, but the information is still great!]

Looking for a piano?  These resources may help:

 Finding Your Piano - Types and Brands  

Guide to Buying a Piano

  I came across this since I've been looking for a piano in hopes of keeping it at the Homeschool Resource Center in Brandon.  My piano (an antique Henry F. Miller Grand) is wonderful, and I should tell the story of how I got it sometime.  It was a word-of-mouth sale. The owner told piano teachers in her area she was selling.

The most important advice you need to know about buying used is: have a trusted piano technician check it out before buying.  Factor this cost before buying.

Where to look for a piano:

Ebay.com

Ebay Classifieds

CraigsList.org

Ask churches - many have pianos gathering dust in spare rooms.
Ask piano teachers.
Find used piano distributors, either in the phone book or through new piano distributors.