Looking for a piano? Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

•Recommended brands are Yamaha and Kawai. These two Japanese brands offer the best quality, value, and resale value. Korean brands such as Sammick and Young Chang (both companies also market pianos with a bewildering array of brand names acquired from long-gone American and European labels) can be decent, but the quality is inconsistent. They can often suffer from poorly seasoned wood and chronic action issues such as sluggishness.

•Avoid spinets, which are the smallest pianos. They simply are too small to sound, play, or tune well. They are generally of low quality, and difficult to work on. They are no longer made… for good reason!

•Size matters–the length of the strings helps determine the sound quality and tuning quality, and the key length can determine the touch. We recommend at least 46″ high (preferably 48″) for verticals, and 6 feet for grands.

•If considering a small vertical piano (a console), try to get one with reinforced front legs. They are braced from the body of the instrument with “toe blocks.” Free-standing front legs tend to be vulnerable to damage, especially during moving.

•Please contact us for moving company referrals. Few movers, even those that advertise themselves as competent to move pianos, seem to know what they are doing. We have seen much damage done by movers.

•Old (“vintage”) pianos are almost always a poor choice. Pianos do NOT get better with age–they ONLY GET WORSE. It’s easy to be drawn to a nice-looking old piano, but most are totally worn out and few are kept up (the ones that are maintained tend not to get sold…). Everything in the piano has deteriorated: glue, felt, leather, strings, hammers–everything.

•Be wary of old Steinways grands. While Steinway makes wonderful modern instruments, older ones suffer from issues that require extensive parts replacement. To the tune of many thousands of dollars! Most old Steinways have seized action parts that render them unplayable.

•Be wary of Steinway vertical pianos. Due to the manner of construction, most are very difficult, or even impossible, to tune well.

•Some people call large vertical pianos “cabinet grands.” There is no such thing–it’s a marketing term. Grand pianos have a different design of moving parts. It’s either a vertical, or a grand. Just not both.

•Free pianos are generally free for a good reason: No one wants them! Avoid pianos that have been stored in barns, sheds, trailers, or other unheated or uncooled outbuildings. Any decent musical instrument, whether it’s guitar, violin, clarinet–whatever– requires an investment!

•Old-style player pianos are neat, especially if the player mechanism actually works. However, even if the player does function, the pianos are typically in very poor mechanical condition because the player components make it difficult to service them. If the player stops working, there are few technicians that know how to service them. We don’t fix broken players.

•Modern pianos with electronic player systems more than just a few years old are seldom desirable. Like most tech toys, these often-gimmicky systems tend to go obsolete quickly, with delicate plastic and electronic components that are difficult to get if they break. Many take obsolete media such as CDs, etc.

•Whatever piano you are considering, the most important thing is to have a technician inspect it prior to purchase. Some of the common problems we’ve been seeing lately (and that the previous owner didn’t know about) include: Difficult or impossible to tune, rodent infestation, dry rot, broken parts, structural defects (cracked plate). Have us inspect it! It’s a good investment.