Steinert & Sons, a Boston dealer founded in 1860. Unlike violins, pianos do not improve over time, said Paul E. Matory, a professor of anthropology at Harvard.Įventually, he and his wife, Bunmi, decided that there was too great a risk that a used piano might deteriorate rapidly. “Some used pianos are very tempting, they sound really good and they look good - and that matters to people like us who put them in the living room,” said Mr.
He had been leaning toward a used piano, because of the cost. Matory said the book was invaluable in helping him decide whether to buy a new or used piano. On the recommendation of friends, they bought “The Piano Book,” by the piano technician Larry Fine, an annually updated guide to buying and owning a piano. It was a book, though, that helped the Matory family of Cambridge, Mass., when they went piano shopping. There is also the National Piano Foundation, at, and the Piano Technicians Guild resource page, at ptg.org/resources-pianoOwners.php. The site compiles new and used piano prices /pnobuyng.html has general information about piano types and a buying guide. Useful shopping information is available on the Web from piano makers, retailers, technicians and enthusiasts. The average selling price for a new grand piano in the United States was more than $11,000 in 2005.Īfter a couple of experiments, Sarah Reiss of Ashland, Mass., bought a new Yamaha P-22 upright for about $5,000. A grand can be more than seven feet long, while even baby grands are nearly five feet long. Grand pianos produce the best sound and keyboard feel, but take up too much room for many homes.
Bill hilton piano keyboard used full#
McCormick, who offers lessons as a way to help sales, is able to employ 60 piano teachers full time.Ĭertain basics will dictate some choices.
McCormick says he thinks that parents have shifted education dollars and hours away from music and toward computers. McCormick Jr., chairman and chief executive of Jordan Kitt’s Music in College Park, Md., a big retailer of pianos. “I’d guess the personal computer is our biggest competitor,” said William J. The reasons for the slump are unclear, but it’s surely no coincidence that the I.B.M. The only growth in the market has been for grand pianos, of which almost 50,000 were sold last year (including pianos with automatic players), compared with only about 20,000 in 1983. But since 1983 that figure has never topped 200,000, and in 2005, only 95,000 were sold. In 1978, more than 280,000 new pianos were sold in the United States. That’s a lot of choices for a market that’s just one-third the size it was 25 years ago. And then there is the influx of pianos made in China, which is accounting for a growing share of the United States market.
Yamaha offers 34 models of acoustic pianos, as well as digital pianos, player pianos and pianos compatible with the MIDI standard (for musical instrument digital interface), meaning that they can connect directly to computers, synthesizers and other instruments. Samick, a big South Korean company, offers four brands and 91 models, and makes full-size digital pianos. Steinway has three brands and 29 models - not counting its custom, art case and limited-edition pianos. There are two main kinds of pianos, grands and uprights, and a dizzying array of sizes and styles. That’s a common experience for piano shoppers. “I really didn’t know what I was doing,” she said. She liked the piano, but rues what she paid, $1,900, because she later found similar pianos for about half the price. After a year, she rewarded herself with a better piano, a used Baldwin Acrosonic she found through a newspaper ad. Though her hand-me-down had sticky keys and other infirmities common to older instruments, she kept at it. Reiss, a product support analyst who lives in Ashland, Mass., was testing herself to see if she would really follow through. She borrowed a 50-year-old piano from her brother. WHEN Sarah Reiss decided four years ago to fulfill her lifelong dream of playing the piano, she didn’t rush out and spend thousands of dollars on a new one.