An acoustic piano is a marvelous piece of engineering that accomplishes its sound with remarkable power and volume--and does it all without electricity or electronics. Does it so well, in fact, that digital pianos are critiqued on whether or not they feel and sound just like a real piano!
Well then, why not have a real piano if that's what the electronic versions try so hard to imitate?
One major advantage of an acoustic piano is that it doesn't become obsolete in two to five years time. Face it--in most cases a good piano is a lifetime investment while an electronic instrument may be obsolete in as little as five years. My own piano has appreciated in value, and who could have foreseen that the replacement cost would double as it has?
Because buying a piano is something we do so seldom, the average person has little or no information on the subject. Even your local piano teacher may have just a vague idea of what goes on inside his or her instrument.
So here goes--a primer in basic piano evaluation for prospective buyers:
The main items to consider are:
Those are the objective factors and not necessarily in order of importance. Numbers 2, 3 and 4 are the heart of your piano, and number 4 reflects those three. Ignore them and you may end up with the equivalent of buying a car without an engine and transmission. More subjective but still important are tone and touch/playability of the keyboard. The cabinet exterior is the least important. All things being equal, the taller the piano the better the tone and stability of tuning.
1)Cabinet: It's nice to have an elegant case, though it really contributes little to the piano's function. But a wellkept finish and cabinet may be indicative of the care the instrument has received. Will you need to move the piano? Does it have good casters? Is the music desk intact and functional? Does the fallboard (key cover) work? Back...
2)The soundboard is the equivalent of the diaphragm or speaker cone in your stereo speaker. It's the large sheet or continuous panel of wood visible behind the support posts at the back of the piano. If you can't get at the back of the piano, open the panel below the keyboard where you can see a large portion of the soundboard behind the strings. Ideally there should be no cracks in a healthy soundboard, and the ribs that give crown or shape to it should not be loose and separated from the soundboard (you can only see the ribs from the back). A hairline crack or two may be tolerable if the ribs are well attached, but watch out for buzzes or rattles when playing. A badly deteriorated soundboard may mean the instrument is not tunable. Back...
3)Strings, tuning pins and bridges:
a)Strings: look inside the top of the piano or better yet, remove the front panel above the keyboard if you can and if the owner will let you. Is there rust on the strings? Are there broken strings? Why? If the plain wire strings are shiny like a finish nail, that's a good sign. There are three strings per note in the treble, two strings per note in the high bass (sometimes three) and single strings in the low bass. Look at the bass strings (left end) which are wound strings. Broken bass strings must be custom made and are in the neighborhood of $30 each to replace. Are they steel wound or copper wound? New strings will be copper wound, and will sound different amid old, steelwound strings.
b)Tuning pins: is there rust on the tuning pins? Or, is there spray paint on the tuning pins in an attempt to hide rust (yes, there are some of those, in which case you may be advised to quietly look elsewhere or at least get an expert opinion). Is there discoloration around each tuning pin, or even a buildup like sludge? This indicates an attempt has been made to treat loose tuning pins, and the pin block (not visible) may have issues.
c)Bridge: This is a strip of wood about two to three inches wide/high and attached to the soundboard, that extends beneath the strings from the treble end diagonally to the bass end. The bass bridge is separate and at the bottom of the piano. The bridges connect the strings to the soundboard for transmission of sound. The strings cross the bridge through two offset rows of bridge pins. Especially at the treble end, look
for cracks in the wood of the bridge extending from the bridge pins. There should be none, or very few and small cracks. Depending on the severity of these cracks or splits, the piano may not be tunable. Back...
4)Action: The action includes hammers and related parts along with the keys. There are three main types of piano action and each will have minor variations according to manufacture-- the spinet or "drop action" (which is a shortened version of the upright); the upright (the diagram viewed at this link is the older style with extensions or "sticker" whereas modern pianos are "direct blow" from the key to the whippen); and the grand piano action, which has a radically different operation from the other two types.
Consider also the pedals and how they work the dampers. Are excessively deep grooves cut in the hammers at the string striking point? Is there offcentre wear on the hammers where they strike the strings? Are all the hammers and shanks evenly spaced, or do they wobble from side to side? Any broken hammers? Play each note: does each key play its own note cleanly? Are some hammers sluggish? Is any note wildly out of tune with its neighbor? Or is the overall tune of the piano consistent, even if it evidently needs tuning? (if it sounds like a saloon or "honky-tonk" piano, then it most definitely is in need of a tuning. The "honky-tonk" saloon piano sound is the sound of a piano out-of-tune).
Take special note of the bass section where the hammers must strike strings on an angle--listen if the hammers strike two notes at once. Small pianos are more susceptible to problems with this as the hammers wear. In order to detect this problem you may need to press/depress the damper pedal while striking each note individually. Are some keys sluggish? Or, is there excessive sidetoside movement of the keys such that they click against each other? What about the keytops? Are they badly chipped and broken? Will that interfere with playing? If the keytops are newly replaced, is it an expert job? Back...
5)Pitch: A novice will find this hard to assess. A guitartuner with chromatic note option may give a rough idea in the centre section if you can mute two of the three strings per note. To do this the piano must be opened. Alternatively use a tuning fork to roughly gauge the pitch of the corresponding note. If the piano has been neglected, even though in good condition, it may require a two, three or even a fourpass tuning to bring it up to pitch, at extra cost. Back...
Conclusion: it's tempting to purchase a low quality instrument with the idea of waiting to see if junior is interested "and then perhaps we'll buy something better." Think twice. The flaw in this logic is that if the instrument isn't enjoyable to play, "junior" most definitely will lose interest!
Compounding the problem of a "beater" instrument is when the new piano owner doesn't have it regularly tuned--no less than once per season and preferably two or even three times per season. It's just part of maintenance, like changing the oil in your car. Parents and teachers wonder why the student doesn't enjoy practicing; the student doesn't have the understanding to explain how the sound is "sour" and disagreeable; the parents may not have the experience and knowledge to know; and the teacher never hears the student on his own instrument, only on the teacher's piano. Meanwhile the teacher wonders what is happening to his or her student retention, and why so few students become accomplished pianists.
Invest in a good instrument, and then maintain it with regular tuning and service. It will reap dividends. There's nothing that takes the fun out of piano playing like a rickety, outoftune instrument. Conversely, a newlytuned piano sounds so good that a keen student will play it just for the joy of hearing the sound.
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The keys in the spinet action have rods that extend downward below the keyboard to lift the hammer parts. |
The illustration is of the old style action found in tall, early 20th century pianos. Modern pianos don't have the "sticker" extensions and are not quite so tall. |
This type of action operates on a radically different principle from the uprights, but offers superior control. It requires an expert technician to put it in correct operating adjustment. |
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