Purchasing a New Piano-HELP!

Are we neighbors? I had to run from Katrina and Rita just two weeks later.

Have you considered using $7,000 as a down payment and financing the rest? That's what I did, although interest rates are a bit higher than 6 years ago.

I purchased a three year old, 5' 10" Kawai RX2 from UNL (Monroe) for just $10,500 (in 2000). It was in a faculty member's office, not a practice room, so I know it wasn't mistreated, as the practice room pianos often are. Perhaps you will find what you need at one of the several 'university piano sales' around Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria and Monroe Louisiana.

Pete

 

Louisiana Purchased Piano

If you consider purchasing a good grand piano from any recent Louisiana university sale, I would be very careful to check for rust around the strings and tuning pins, and look for ripples in the soundboard -- evidence of, shall we say, "excess moisture." Remove the fallboard, and look for evidence of mud or moisture in and amongst the keys where a lay person would forget to clean; look for warped keys; try the trapwork (pedals), looking for sticking dampers upon pressing and releasing the rightmost pedal.

Just as Katrina's aftermath left 600,000 automobiles as being totaled by the insurance carriers, yet only 300,000 moisture destroyed automobiles found in junk yards -- I would be extremely cautious of unscrupulous vendors trying to sell pianos that suffered hurricane damage.

Joe

 

That's good advice. My own piano was spared humidity damage in the week we were without power because I took the legs off, wrapped it tightly in several layers of plastic sheeting and sealed it with clear packaging tape. I'm sure plenty of people in the areas that were without power, did not take such measures to protect their instruments from humidity. Flood damage will be obvious, humidity or heat damage will be less noticeable. I would keep an eye out for mildew or severe out-of-tunedness. High heat or humidity can damage a piano in a way that is not immediately evident. This damage will not show for months to years, in the form of weakened action components and unstable temperament. For example, after Hurricane Lili in 2002, my piano was subjected to 100F degree (39C) temperature for a couple of days. I had to tune it five times a year for the next two years, before the tuning became stable. I certainly wouldn't want a piano that had been exposed to the summer heat for weeks on end.

 

Re: Which would you buy?

This is today an extremely tricky question. The digital grands comes with a lot advantages but I would take my time and not go on the first, second or even third impression. I would visit each shops at least 10 times and bring my scores and make my practise in there (probably painful for the shop owners ). That is how I would do it. Unfortunately, I cannot answer your questions without making this test but it would not be an obvious choice.