So Many Brands...

[Novice]

This question is open for all to answer. I'm interested in buying a nice upright piano, but seeing how I've never bought a paino before (left that up to family or school), I'm not sure what to go with.

I want to avoid buying anything that isn't worth the money, considering how expensive pianos are. I also want to try to avoid buying whichever piano is the cheapest.  That's all self-explanitory.

Please give me some suggestions, or some overall comments on a few brands, but please don't just say on brand and say 'it's great, go for it' cause that really doesn't help me any.

Thanks to all

[Axtremus]

1. Go check out as many different brands/models of pianos as you can get your hands on. Play them if you can, or get a friend to play them for you. Go discover what sound you like best, what's your own preference. Take your time. It's quite common to take a few weeks or even months to decide on a piano, and to travel to different towns to visit different stores.

2. Some free Internet resources that can help you:

https://www.pianofinders.com/educational/shortguide.htm

https://www.bluebookofpianos.com/new.htm

https://www.bluebookofpianos.com/american.htm

Also check out "The Piano Book" by Larry Fine (your local library may have it if you don't want to buy the book yourself). https://www.pianobook.com/

For many, it takes a lot of time to research the world of pianos to find one that suites their particular tastes and individual circumstances, and buying piano can be a very personal thing.

Or, if you'd rather just go buy one quickly and not spend time researching (I do NOT recommend buying anything without sufficient research) -- let's do an automobile analogy: when buying a car, if you don't know any better, go buy a Toyota or a Honda. They won't be flashy, but they are dependable, reliable, safe choices; not cheap, but not too expensive either. In the piano world, the equivalents would be Yamaha and Kawai. The Yamaha U-series and the Kawai K-series uprights are widely available and generally known to be dependable. Within the same series, bigger is usually better. And, like buying a car, the "list price" is usually not the price you pay. Your negotiation skill will affect the price you pay.

Good luck!  

[Hmoll]

I agree with Axtremus, especially his point about trying a lot of different instruments, and not rushing into anything.
Two verticals I tried recently that I like are 1) Schultze Pollman 126E, which is a 50". It has a very nice sound, rich bass (for an upright), bright but not tinny upper register. The action is very responsive. The only thing I did not like is it does not have a true sostenuto pedal.
It retails new for about US$10,000.
2) Mason & Hamlin 50" (sorry, can't remember the model number). It has a great sound for a vertical, and as close to the sound of a grand that I've heard from any upright. Very responsive action. It retails for about US$13,500.

Note: these are NY City prices, and you can probably get them for less elsewhere.

[asimov250]

Well, I'm obviously late, since this question was posted years ago. But for the people that are searching the same thing I would recommend them to read the following articles from this website - Piano Brands:

• Everything about piano brands
• Piano Types and Sizes
• Piano Typs

And if you like Steinway and Sons here are some myths about them - Myths about Steinway and Sons