Holiday Gift Idea For Pianists: House of Troy Piano Lamps
With this year’s holiday season fast approaching, we are all mindful of our budget. Even fiscal conservatives wish to make generous gifts to loved ones, but thoughtful gifts are at a premium over lavish ones. When considering the pianist in your life, buy them a light for their piano and they will always remember you. Piano lamps give necessary reading light for sheet music just like a favorite book, and House of Troy builds the best.
Not only is a piano light a helpful gift, it is a long-lasting gift.
Not many gifts will be seen and used so often. Your gift will become
part of their experience every time they sit down to play their
favorite music. Music may change, but it never goes out of style.
Truthfully, not enough people consider light for their music in the same way they light their favorite reading spot. Whether you read the paper at the breakfast table (where you probably have bright overhead lighting) or a cozy book nook you will make sure you have the light you need to avoid eyestrain. Reading music is the same, and for a piano, lighting is all about getting the proper reach. As simple as a lamp is, the right light can make all the difference.
House of Troy makes many kinds of lamps and lights including specialty lighting. They are an industry leader for proper lighting of artwork, quality desk lamps and of course, piano lamps. Their upright piano lamps come in a variety of styles not only for the right look, but also for the right style of piano, even digital pianos!
Grand and baby grand pianos provide a different problem of reach. House of Troy offers both Clip-On lamps which attach directly to the music desk and Balance Arm lamps which set neatly on the the music desk’s side.
They also make long arm piano floor lamps that work for both piano types.
Contact us about fulfilling this year’s list with the right piano lamp.
We Cultivate Customers By Cultivating Musicians: One Example
This last Monday, PianoWorks hosted yet another function for the local music community. Many young pianists get their training through the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM), a popular curriculum that is growing in our area. At the end of each grade level is an official exam for the students to pass in order to advance. Much hard work goes into these exams and we provide both space and performance level pianos for the students. On Monday, the students tested on Bosendorfer and Schimmel pianos.
We hear often that our pianos and the environment we provide really gives piano teachers confidence that their students will be able to perform. Many of the students are too nervous to comment on the pianos, but they keep coming back. One of the last exams of the day was for a nice young man ready to move from grade 5 to 6. While waiting, he, his mother and sister engaged us about several of our pianos. The mother asked Chad, “So which is the very best?” Chad directed them over to a Bosendorfer model 225 semi-concert grand and after just a few minutes with the piano, they were full of questions. I obliged to continue the tour and open the discussion to more pianos because I believe that “which is the best?” is a truly subjective question. The best for many people is Bosendorfer, and there is rarely any argument that another builder might be better. Mostly, I like to talk about fine pianos, celebrate their differences, and turn the question of good, better, best into one of “so which do you like?”
They really liked the Bosedorfer pianos as well as others. We had a great time. I also had my video camera handy. We were not allowed to video the actual exam, but afterward, they came back into the showroom and I recorded the exam pieces for mom. Here is one of them.
Not to be left out, his younger sister also played. It was very sweet to see her fearless in front of such a large instrument.
At mom’s request, I published these for family and friends. I look forward to helping them select a truly fine instrument when they are ready.
A nice gentleman came by last week searching for a grand piano for his oldest daughter. He was referred to our store by several close friends and colleagues. She has been studying piano for several years, and she is at the level where a grand piano will help her proficiency and prepare her for more challenging and competitive playing. She also really loves piano, and Papa wants to support her passion and hard work. Also, his younger daughter is nearly ready to begin playing. Does this scenario sound familiar to anyone else?
His family’s first piano was a Yamaha console. He bought it gently used from his local dealer and it served the family well. His friends, many of them musicians, safely suggested that a Yamaha grand piano would be the logical next step. His pursuit for a good deal on a gently used Yamaha grand (as well as the personal referral of those same friends) led him to visit with us one week ago. He spoke with my father and we had two good choices in range of his budget. I greeted him in our showroom.
While welcoming our new customer, we walked through our showroom discussing pianos and learning his needs. He stopped curiously to ask about a piano that caught his eye. He thought the piano was beautiful, but it was the name that puzzled him. He’d never seen an Estonia piano before. I spent a minute introducing the piano, but we continued on to the Yamaha grands. We had two Yamaha grands, a 5’3″ GC-1 and a 5’8″ C-2, both well-prepped and in the very best condition. After comparing, he saw the value in investing a little more for the larger C-2. The decision was basically made, but he was going to share with his family and let me know. Our visit ran into his next appointment, but his curiosity about the Estonia pianos caused him to spend a few more minutes with them and take a brochure. I think at that point he was as interested in Estonia, the company and the country, as he was in the piano that caught his eye. The brochure, while lovely, tells only part of Estonia’s story, so I put together a few extras from the world around to send to him after he left.
We continued to communicate over the next few days, still satisfied with his choice of the Yamaha, but asking questions about the Estonia. I’m going to share some of my substantive e-mails to him:
Hello ******,
First, I will make the arrangements to have the Yamaha and Estonia on our showroom floor for side by side comparison. I can make that happen by Wednesday afternoon. I will convey to our staff this is will remain a surprise.
I feel the side by side comparison truly is the best way because selecting a piano is less about “the better brand” and more about subjective preferences. My advice to customers becomes simplified, look among pianos/brands whose quality you are comfortable with and then select the one you like playing/listening to the best. If your committee prefers the Yamaha, then wonderful, but if the conclusion is the Estonia, then I hope you will accept what so many of my other customers have come to learn about this relatively hidden gem. Yamaha is a big, successful brand and I’ve sold more Yamaha pianos than Estonias over the years, but the only times I’ve ever had a Yamaha selected over an Estonia is because of budget.
I’m going to answer your question as best as I can. I have nothing bad to say about the Yamaha C-series piano, but I do want to shed some perspective. Billy Joel, in an 2007 interview in Keyboard Magazine said “I’ve noticed with Yamaha, you’ll always get a good piano. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a bad Yamaha. But I don’t think Yamahas are exceptionally brilliant pianos. They’re always consistently good.” He goes on to talk about Steinways as either “flawed or absolutely brilliant” and “most Bosendorfers aren’t good – they’re really good. They’re always top-notch pianos.” This is the perspective that I consistantly see. When an artist or performer is traveling to different venues, their fear of a bad instrument outweighs their desire for a wonderful one. This is Yamaha’s strength, consistancy, predictability, utility. Beyond that, people, artists and the rest of us, will desire more for our personal choice.
Yamaha’s best known artist, Elton John, plays a custom built instrument that is nearly as much electronics as acoustics that allow him to create a unique stage show. The size and scope of Yamaha’s artist program is a wonderful thing that their success has afforded them.
If you ever watch the TV show House, in early seasons, Dr. House plays on an older Knabe piano, but with the success of the show, Yamaha saw an opportunity to fit in a product endorsement and put a huge logo on all sides of the now new piano.
Estonia pianos are a remarkable story. I love the Austin, Texas’ Steinway dealer’s comment from the AJC article. “We may only get 10 a year because they don’t make that many and they really are pieces of art,” showroom manager Matthew Bird said. “The technicians that tuned the ones we just got in already have been raving about their sound and quality.” That article ran in over 75 papers nationwide.
Barker Hickox, well-known music and arts philanthopist, became fascinated by Estonia pianos and helped put them on stage for Jazz festivals around the country. His love of the pianos led to friendship with Dr. Laul who was one of his pall-bearers when Mr. Hickox recently passed.
WRTI, Philadelphia’s only classical music station, had a new studio built including a state of the art” recording space that can also be used for live performance and masterclasses. The piano in the space is an Estonia 190. There have been numerous recordings made with this piano, particularly chamber music, as this space has become a preferred place for many Philly Orchestra members.” – Rich Gallassini, Piano Forum. Marc-André Hamelin recently recorded an album there.
https://bit.ly/1iLpSm is a link to Rachmoninov plays Rachmoninov (Amazon.com). The historical Ampico player recordings were reproduced and recorded on an Estonia Concert Grand. Great care went into this project, and Estonia was selected for the task.
In the last few months, one of Canada’s most prolific Jazz recording studios in Calgary run by Aaron Young has selected an Estonia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5wVWWvFiNs keyboardist from the rock band, Smashing Pumpkins, gave a great video review of Estonia pianos.
Stories like these keep piling on top of each other.
An artist program is very expensive to develop, and even Steinway could not afford to start one today. They can largely rely on the existing instruments in various venues. For most companies, to support an artist, they have to truck the piano around with them. Very few artists can support this expense (by generating extra sales).
I know of several local teachers who have selected Estonia pianos from us in the past several years. I am reaching out to them to see if they are available for you to speak with.
Estonia is a brand that has, in the past, survived because of great value and is now thriving because of great quality.
Mostly, let’s see how your daughter likes it.
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She visited, she selected the Estonia as her favorite, and her godmother (a very good player and member of the “piano selection committee”) was equally impressed. In that moment, the decision to upgrade the family piano changed. It went from “the right time to get a grand” to a genuine opportunity to add to the family. He saw the legacy being built, this piano inspired feelings about music, his relationship with music, music and his daughters. This was worth the cost; this is what we in the piano industry would prefer to refer to as an “investment.” He invested in the time spent and values of his family.
We delivered his new Estonia piano yesterday. Both the family and friends were gathered at their home as we pulled up with the piano. We had both trucks running around town, so Yes, I was back on the delivery crew. It was an exciting afternoon, and I think everyone was taking lots of pictures. Mom and Dad were pleased, daughter was playing and hugging the piano, it looks beautiful, and that is only the beginning of this piano’s story.
I’ve faced many challenging requests from customers. I know that everyone would like pianos to be cheaper. So would I. There are so many elements to a piano, shape, size, sound and fun features. It’s fun to think about the ideal instrument. I’ll start with mine.
I have to set out my restrictions. I will obey the laws of physics and keep the piano conventionally the same, not a new instrument. I don’t live in a palace with a ballroom for my Bosendorfer Imperial, but I’d give up my dining room table to have a medium-sized grand piano. My May Berlin upright is great, but let’s see what I can come up with.
First, I’ll start with aesthetics. I love polished nickel hardware, so that is easy. My May Berlin already has nickel/chrome hardware, which is also nice. I also love wood finishes. It’s very hard to decide which type of wood, but I also like the somewhat rare, open-pore satin finish. I love rosewood and teak. There are many beautiful woods, but I saw this piano in person and fell in love. The finish is called Aruba.
I know this will not be everyone’s favorite look, but that’s the point. My dream piano has nothing to do with anyone else’s choice. I’ll have my favorite piano for the rest of my life, so I can stop concerning myself with resale value or how popular the brand is. It becomes a pure selection.
To be honest with myself, I do love a piano’s decal. I like Bosendorfer’s early logo, Steinway’s vintage soundboard decal, Fazioli’s modern logo, Estonia’s little leaves, Schimmel’s crown, but rather than a name, I might just use Yamaha’s crossed tuning forks emblem. Undecided.
Now I must reveal my most difficult choices relating to the sound. Do I pick a speific model of piano or imagine a hybrid? Here is where I would have to have two pianos (at least!), one to play and one to listen to. The position of the pianist is too close to get the fully developed sound, but I want it to sound good while I play. While there are shared elements among my favorites, I have pianos I prefer when playing and pianos I prefer when listening.
I’ll start with my favorite to play. Among smaller grands under 6′ I love the scale of vintage Mason & Hamlin model A and Estonia model 168. If I move up in size, I love the Grotrian 192 and Steinway’s former “long-scale A” and at 7′, I love Schimmel’s K213 and Mason & Hamlin “BB” new or pre-Great Depression. I couldn’t fit anything bigger, so I can stop.
Which pianos are my favorite to listen to…is an easier question, Bosendorfer. I love sitting in the room with different players playing different styles, and I always love the sound of Bosendorfer. I don’t subscribe to the idea that certain pianos are only suitable for certain types of music. A happy musician will pull the music out of the piano.
I will have to have friends to share my piano with friends, musicians and everyone who is a better player than I am. Even though I will never be a great player or even a skilled player (having started so late), I do enjoy fine pianos and find it worthwhile to aspire to such an instrument. I can be a happy piano player.
I find that customers walk into our store with all types of attitudes and expectations. Many are excited about the prospect of buying a wonderful instrument, but almost as many are reluctant to get started for several reasons. Let’s face it, good quality pianos are expensive, and how you go about choosing the right one is a mystery for most of us. This leads to apprehension, feeling foolish about your questions or even fear of being taken advantage of. But I have good news for customers who walk into our store. Not only to we have a great variety of pianos, but the experience you will have here will be helpful whether or not your final selection is one of our pianos.
In order to put our customers at ease, we focus on education. I like to find out what my customers background, experience and assumptions are and then fill in the details. If you come in blind, we are happy to start your introduction to pianos. This isn’t a lecture; you will see, touch and compare pianos as you learn. I worked as an elementary school teacher while in college, so don’t be afraid to ask the “stupid questions.” I think good educators are inherently entertaining.
The goal here is to help you make music, to problem solve with the many resources that we have after a lifetime devoted to the business, and to find the right instrument. For myself, I take the role of teacher and matchmaker which gives me pride in my business.
If your desire is to better appreciate the variety of instruments, we can cover that. If you are more interested in learning about the inner workings, we can tour our restoration facility and see nearly every stage of piano building. We’ve even had piano teachers arrange field trips for their students. And if you have limited time to shop, we can fast forward your process. We know what we’re doing and nearly all our business is direct referrals from satisfied customers, piano teachers, and technicians who trust us to take care of their customers. You may drive by a piano store on your way to work or hear an ad on the radio, but when you ask the people you trust, see what they say about PianoWorks.
Customer Letter: PianoWorks customer service in his words.
01-October-2009
PianoWorks
2805 Buford Highway,
Duluth, Georgia 30096
Attn: Don Bennett
Dear Don,
I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation for the efforts put forward by you and your staff to ensure that the recently identified issue with my Yamaha C3 was addressed. As any company can look good when things always go well, the true measure of an organization is how well it functions when dealing with adversity and in this case, a relatively serious issue. I can categorically state that I have been nothing but impressed with PianoWorks since I first walked into the store over 18 months ago. I continue to be bowled over by the outstanding service and your high level of dedication to customers.
As you know, music is an integral part of my life and the relationship that I enjoy with my piano is very personal. The rapid response to the situation and the generosity of the offer that allowed me to replace the piano with an instrument of significantly higher quality is something that I will not soon forget.
I would also like to note that several members of your direct and associate staff also went significantly out of their way to provide assistance. Specifically, I would like to express my appreciation to Chris who took the time to carefully examine the issue with the C3. It should also be noted that he and his team did an excellent job in removing the C3 and carefully placing the new Schimmel in our home. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Linda who worked patiently with me to ensure that I was pleased with the new instrument. And of course, I can not say enough good things about Harry who is always there to watch out for me.
Again, I am most appreciative of all your efforts and I am nothing but excited at owning such an elegant piano.
Sincerely,
Richard Boulifard
Casio Privia Digital Pianos: Yes, I sell them…for many great reasons.
Whenever I look over our showroom floor, I am constantly making evaluations. One key to PianoWorks’ success is our commitment to offering high value products for our customers. Sometimes this means hard choices, but our addition of Casio Privia digital pianos was an easy choice.
We service, repair and restore acoustic pianos; that’s who we are. While we believe that digital pianos cannot replace the experience of a quality acoustic piano, digital pianos have a lot to offer. Their value as starter pianos, as portable pianos and as tools for digital music cannot be ignored, but now I fast forward to our choice of Casio.
Several years ago, we decided to enter the digital piano market. I went to NAMM, the music industry’s largest trade show, with a mission; I went to find the best digital pianos to be starter pianos. I compiled a list of necessary features from several piano teachers but then I shopped like one of our more educated customers might. I wanted the right features, high reliability, a good sound, and a low price. I ran around for two days and played every digital there. I shopped rather than looking at sales figures, market share or profit margin. I took my task seriously. You might buy one. I was going to buy many in the coming years.
There are sooo many digital pianos out there. There were more than a dozen brands that I’d never heard of and nearly everybody makes a good product. There were some brands that had great sound but deficient feel. There were some that had amazing features but would not be accessible starter pianos. Casio emerged. There were several other brands that had all the right features but fell short of the Casio in either reliability, technology, and consistantly in price. Casio offered the most important features for the least amount of money. I think that is one of the listed definitions of Value.
Just a few weeks ago, we received the next installment of Casio Privia digital pianos, the PX-130 and the PX-330. I sold the first PX-130 before it even arrived to a very excited adult beginner. I sold two of the PX-330’s before they arrived, one to a friend and local piano teacher, the other to my aunt, a music minister. I believe in my products. I sold the entire first shipment including the floor demos within two weeks. We’re not Best Buy, these things are fantastic. I pre-sold another before my next shipment arrived to a very excited parent. If you are in the market, go try one.
The highlights for the Privia digital pianos include 88-notes in a scaled-weighted feel (like the real thing), great piano sounds (as well as others), very light weight (PX-130 is just 25 lbs.), and for our most popular offering, a great integrated stand and 3 pedals package making it look and work like a console. Add USB connectivity and some standard digital piano offerings (like built-in metronome) and the value is the best out there.
Reprinted with permission
Visit to SMC and the Knabe Assembly Line
Last Friday my father picked me up very early and we ventured to Gallatin, Tennessee where Samick USA is located. We had about 4.5 hours of driving ahead of us then a tour of corporate headquarters, their 200,000 sq foot piano and guitar distribution and most importantly the Knabe assembly line. Somewhere in there I hoped to have lunch before driving back later that night. But for now it is early and I’m not a morning person.
Despite my plan to finish my night’s sleep on the ride up, I stayed awake to keep my father company. My father, Don Bennett, is an RPT turned business owner and in the last few years I’ve learned even more about what it takes to have a small business. This day was about that, about trading a day-off for a long day of pianos to learn more for our customers and hopefully translate that into doing better business. We spent the morning discussing pianos, our current sale, future plans. And the drive has a few highlights like crossing the Tennessee River as well as the climb over Monteagle.
Gallatin, Tennessee is about 40 minutes NE of Nashville. The town is certainly small by Atlanta standards and Samick’s headquarters is located in a sprawling business park away from the center of town. Our trusty GPS guided us to their front door of what looked like a stately municipal building except for the compact and intricate sidewalk and landscaping out front. Inside, the lobby is spare, hardwood floors, a receptionist greeted us and tucked under the grand staircase was a lovely Knabe piano.
Jane Jones, Piano Service Manager, greeted us while we waited for Baik Lee, CEO of Samick USA and Mike Sweeney, our Knabe rep, to meet us. I saw their extensive lines of guitars in one showroom as well as some new models they had set up for photos. Baik and Mike joined us in the piano showroom as we saw their different lines: Samick, Kohler & Campbell, Kohler Digitals, Pramberger, and Knabe. I saw an original antique Pramberger, a piano that was featured in a recent Hollywood movie and a Knabe that Ellen DeGeneres picked out. It had a big white handwritten sign on it that said “Ellen’s Piano. Don’t Touch” Dear Ellen, I promise I resisted the temptation. I saw a few prototype Samick uprights with etched glass front panels and a lovely
I also met Roger Jolly for the first time. Roger is a great technician brought in as a consultant by Samick to improve their piano lines overall but mostly to focus on the American assembly of the Knabe grand pianos. He has great excitement and energy, and as an outside consultant he was blunt about some deficiencies of past pianos and specific about the many areas of steady, committed improvement over the last few years. He and my father immediately retreated into their own world of touchweights and voicing. After touring the office and meeting the staff that moves such a large operation, we headed into town for lunch.
After lunch, we headed straight to the distribution center. Calling it a warehouse is inadequate. It is a huge space divided into 3 large but not equal rooms. To the left are mountains of guitars, the middle is stacks of pianos, and to the right is still more pianos in a general prep facility being uncrated, checked, prepped and re-crated. Beside this is Knabe’s assembly.
My immeadiate impression is that this operation is more like a large piano workshop than a piano manufacturing plant. The bodies of the pianos come in and are set on shop dollies and the Knabe crew sets about building the actions and finishing the pianos. They have workstations as well as voicing rooms set up but you get an overwhelming sense of the tremendous amount of hand work that goes into each piano. Instead of CNC machines, you see drill presses, hand tools, nearly all of the jigs are made of wood and piano parts, simple, practical, and efficient only on this scale…5-8 pianos each week. Demand is strong so they have plans to hire and train more workers, but the scale of the “piano shop” can’t be ignored.
For the first time, I saw the new 7’6″ Knabe grand. With Baik overseeing, Roger Jolly shared his charge, to make a piano better than a Yamaha C7 for less cost. The C7 is a flagship model and that is a tall order, but from what I saw, the new Knabe piano is already there with still more improvements to come. They started with a Bechstein scale. For several years, Samick partnered with Bechstein and this scale is one of the results. While full and powerful, the piano still seems to have more European roots than American roots that the 5’8″ and 6’4″ models possess so clearly. The use of US and Canadian woods shades that identity, but Roger admitted that he is struggling with which voice to give the piano. In many ways, these pianos are now his children and he draws his experience from many great piano manufacturers. From what I heard, Knabe has developed another piano that I would want. My father selected a warm and full sounding 7′ model off the line for our showroom as well as a 5’8″ to replace some of our recently sold Knabe pianos. We’re looking forward to displaying them in the coming weeks.
The drive home seemed longer, but then Saturday was the beginning of our Labor Day weekend sale. I think my next visit will see even more steady improvements as this company builds here in America. Only Steinway, Mason & Hamlin and Knabe produce grands here (very notably, Charles Walter builds fine uprights here), so even on a small scale, I was proud to see one manufacterer coming to the US after all the others have left.
Rebuilt, Restored, Refurbished…Reality: Introduction to these Piano Terms
This piano was rebuilt. That piano was restored. These pianos are refurbished. What does that mean? Unfortunately, these are not technical terms with an agreed upon definition. This is a short introduction of what to look for, what to watch out for, and a healthy reminder of how to use your own common sense. It is too complicated to become an instant expert, but there are simple strategies to save you from risky decisions.
Let’s start with “refurbished pianos.” This is the most inclusive term and therefore, the most vague. TheFreeDictionary.com defines refurbish as: To make clean, bright, or fresh again. An air compressor, a buffing wheel, and a tuning hammer may be all you need to technically refurbish a piano. Refurbishing may include some replacement of parts and often cabinet refinishing. I avoid using the term because many people wrongly imply that the work done is more extensive than an improved presentation of the piano. In truth, I like this kind of refurbishing because if the mechanical core of the piano is good, then the piano in many ways will be like new. The downside is that a nice finish and clean insides may distract the customer from evaluating the mechanical core’s true condition.
Piano rebuilding is also an imprecise term, but usually when the piano gets new strings, people start talking about rebuilding. Rebuilding as opposed to refurbishing, generally includes the replacement of at least some components. The quality of the parts used as well as the skill of the rebuilder will have a great affect on the results. Rebuilding a piano that is 30 years or older may extend the life of the piano for many years. Rebuilding a younger piano should raise questions about why. There are only a few good reasons to rebuild a relatively young piano. The range of rebuilders is like the range of home subcontractors – from very bad to absolutely top-notch. Note: most piano technicians are reluctant to disparage another technician’s work. In this case, customer references are essential. Professional references from universities or musical institutions should indicate the work is good and can withstand a high level of scrutiny.
Piano restoration is a synonym with rebuilding, but restoration implies a more complete job. Piano restoration is intended to bring the piano back to its original new condition inside and out. This means all new working parts, refinishing, a new pinblock, and soundboard repair or replacement and more. Like rebuilding, restoration has no set standard, so results and costs will vary. Full restoration is labor intensive and the best components are not cheap. Again, references are usually the best way to screen for piano restorers followed by a test drive of some of their work.
Piano restoration is a niche. A good technician may be fully capable of many kinds of repairs but still not have the right kind of experience to complete a restoration. Restoration requires a significant amount of space and tools, a time commitment that usually requires that they work as a rebuilder first and technician second. Well meaning technicians often get in over their head when they could better serve their customers by referring to a restoration facility.
Again, understanding that piano rebuilding is not cheap, use common sense. Sometimes people believe they’ve found a high-quality, rebuilt piano for cheap. “$3k U1s cannot have new strings, new hammers, new key bushings, new
damper felts, etc. This stuff costs more than the $3k to be done right
and with proper materials even in a third world sweatshop.” – Marty Flinn (Co-Author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Buying A Piano), from PianoWorld.com Piano Forums. And yet these mystifying claims are repeated by confused customers. When in doubt, hire a qualified, independent piano technician to evaluate the physical condition of the used piano you are considering.
Hopefully, this has served as a good introduction to de-mystify these terms commonly applied to used pianos. Learning these terms will help you ask better questions and avoid bad assumptions the next time you are considering a piano.
Retire Spinet Pianos: Good starter pianos and Bad starter pianos
For a beginning student, the best solution is a new piano or high-quality used piano, but when budget is an issue, people commonly seek out less expensive options. Spinet pianos are cheap, small, they look like other pianos and the thought is that with just a little work, they could be good enough for a beginner. Don’t fall into this trap.
A young beginner needs a piano with a good, in-tune sound for ear training. A young beginner needs a piano with a good, consistent feel to develop muscle memory and hand strength. An intermediate player needs a piano with a good sound to develop musicality and dynamic control. Again, proper feel is needed to develop dynamic control and better playing techniques.
A spinet piano is a very small upright piano. They have several disadvantages over console and studio upright pianos. Spinet pianos can be identified by their height. Pianos 40″ and shorter are spinets, 41″ – 44″ tall are consoles, 45″ and taller are studio uprights. The tallest studio uprights (48″+) are often called professional or upright grands.
A spinet has a different kind of action than better pianos. The spinet drop-action is a pull-type rather than a push-type and this makes them too light and imprecise for students. The spinet action combined with the piano’s small stature allow for almost zero dynamic control. Spinets were always cheaply made, so as they age, they are even more likely to have tuning problems. Technicians dislike working on spinets because you can’t get out the effort you put into them. For these reasons, a spinet makes a poor, inadequate and discouraging starter piano.
Another subtler point is that these hand-me-down pianos often send the wrong message to children. If your attitude toward the piano is that it is nothing special, your children will pick up on this. Students need encouragement, and a good instrument will help.
While nothing will replace a high-quality acoustic piano, often a better budget choice is a digital piano for the reasons stated. Digital pianos like the models we sell have good, consistent feel, they are in tune, they provide dynamic control. They have the benefit of needing no maintenance, and they are fun and interesting for the player. This makes them a great medium term solution until you are ready to invest in a good acoustic piano as a long term solution.