Top 5 things to check when buying pianos from individual sellers
Compared to 20 years ago, there are many ways to purchase a piano in the present day. In the old days, a customer could visit one or several different musical instrument stores, or receive a hand-me-down discounted piano from a teacher, friend, family, or neighbors. Hand-me downs or purchasing from individual sellers may be an inexpensive option, but you may not get a good deal after all. Read ahead to see why!
Here are 5 common problems when purchasing a piano from individual sellers:
Pianos are quite complicated instruments with mixed materials consisting of wood, metal, plastic, wool and even ivory parts. One piano is made up of over 6000 parts! For example, a piano usually has 88 keys, and in order to create a moving mechanism, each key consists of more than 50 parts PER note/key! Each key also consists of not only one, but some, 2 or 3 tuning pins. But we won’t get into the full anatomy details of a piano in this post. The message I want to relay to you is that because a piano is a complicated instrument consisting of MANY moving parts, it is not easy to judge the condition of the piano from just what meets the eye..
If you are purchasing a piano from an individual seller, we highly recommend hiring an independent tuner/piano technician who can diagnose the piano professionally. Repairs can cost much more than piano moving costs.
Grand piano mechanism (grand piano)
Hiring professional piano movers will solve many moving problems, but moving isn’t cheap and will be added on top of the purchase price. If you purchase a piano from an instrument store, moving costs are usually discounted or even included in the purchase price. We recommend hiring professional piano movers, especially if you live on the 2nd+ floor of a walkup building or you are purchasing a grand piano. Grand pianos have three legs and multiple layers that require disassembly. Each piano manufacturer designs their pianos with different settings and parts. Regular movers are not equipped with these tools and skills. We have heard so many horror stories of critical damages made on the piano by regular furniture movers. Even if the moving company that you hire has insurance, they are only responsible for the weight (50cents per pound) unless you purchase separate insurance. For peace of mind, check with your homeowner/renter insurance. If you have stated your piano in your assets, replacement value could be covered.
Disassembling a grand piano
Even though the piano may look great or relatively new, if the tuning pins are loose there will be problems in the future. Tuning pins control the pitch and sound. When a piano is out of tune, you need to hire a piano technician/tuner to pitch raise, and tune.
There are several reasons why a piano goes out of tune: The most common reason is the natural slide of the pin from the use of the piano and seasonal humidity + temperature changes. These are, of course, expected with every piano and are not a problem. BUT! If tuning pins are loose, the piano may need frequent tuning or replacement for bigger pins. Either way- this will cost you a lot of money. If a pin block has a crack, it will cost you over $1000 to repair or replace it/them. Pin blocks are hard to see from the outside, so again, we recommend hiring a piano technician before purchasing.
Cracked pin block
Replaced pin block
When we purchase a piano from our clients, we use an air compressor to clean the inside of the piano. The reason for cleaning is because we often see a mouse and/or insect droppings in the piano. We have also seen horrible cases where mice have eaten parts of the piano e.g. felt and leather parts, or insects have laid eggs within deep crevices. We don’t want to have unwanted visitor’s infesting our workshop or showroom, and I’m sure you don’t want them in your home either!
Mouse droppings under the keys
This is a rare case, but in the old days, arsenic was used as a common method of pest control. Now it is illegal to use without a license, but we have also seen cases where there are some leftover arsenic under the keys. Arsenic poisoning causes bronchial health problems.