I'm about to buy, info needed

[persona]

My price range would be around the value of a used clavinova, a used roland or a used german upright piano. I have a few questions:

1) Why are german uprights so less expensive than others?? Are they truly worse or what?

2) Which is best for practice, a high quality digital, or a medium-to-low quality upright? I'm not that interested in the sound, as a matter of fact, I'd rather have a digital with adjustable volume in my room than bother my whole family with an upright in the living room. But my question is: which would best emulate the touch of a concert piano, a good electric or a mediocre upright?

3) If I were to buy a digital piano, which one would you recommend, yamaha clavinova or roland? because I hear they are both very good.

Thanx in advance

[jeremyjchilds]

make sure that the pianos are german, not just german sounding...
Pramberger, Ritmuller, Weber, for example are all just names that are mass produced in China, korea or elsewhere

Do not get a digital, unless it is your second instrument.
For your other questins, i would get a medium upright. Get a used larger upright. This will let you become accostomed with the many mysteries of overtones, pedalling, and tone production. Sound is important, because that is how you will guage your technique. Ear is always important, and if the sound is bad because of the piano, then your ear will not create expectations from your technique.

[iumonito]

Totally agree.

If your cheap uprights are the likes of Schimmel, Bluthner or Grotrian, those are out of this world excellent uprights (although very unlikely that cheap).

[persona]

The german pianos I meant are, for instance, Giessbach, Strauss, Ernst Korner & C º Stuttgart, Muller, C. Gercken, among others. These, I can get (used) at the same price of a digital. Are they really that bad or what?

[richard black]

Those German uprights sound ancient to me. But even they will probably be better than an electric keyboard. Which country are you in? English uprights can be very good but they didn't travel much outside England.

[jeremyjchilds]

Add seiler to the list of good german uprights...


Those sound like "stencil pianos" factory (often chinese) pianos that have names like "kohler and campbell" and even "heintzman" written on them. These piano names may have been legitimate european pianos back in the day, but thier name was purchased and exploited.

[persona]

These all promise to be authentical german pianos, but all of them 30 to 50 years old. And I belive my question remains unanswered:

If I can get an upright at the same price of a digital, wouldn't that upright be so crapy it would indeed emulate the touch of a gran piano worse than a digital? My common sense tells me so...

[iumonito]

That's a better question than the three you asked before.  The answer, in my opinion, is "not necessarily."

First of all, upright do not emulate the touch of a grand really well.  There is something mechanical about the touch, so they are by and large "better" than most moderately priced digitals.  But the upright lacks a sense of gravity and mass that even a tiny grand piano-shaped object (I mean a baby grand under 5'8") would have.  The better uprights are more expensive than the cheaper baby grands, so if space is not an issue and you have 5,000 - 7,000 us dollars for this, I would say get a Chinese baby grand.

When you get to the really good digitals (digitals never the less) you are already past the price of the mediocre uprights, as you put it.  Neither one of them is a good substitute for the touch of a grand.  Plus, if you are going to spend that much on a digital (I am talking in the neighborhood of 3,000 US dollars, you might as well get a baby grand.

So, my suggestion is: if you are not going ot get a baby grand, get the cheapest digital you can.  A US$ 500 digital usually is better than a US$500 upright: it is in tune, the action is even (not realistic, but even), they don't go out of tune, and they are easier to move.

[persona]

That's just what I thought. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to spend around 1000 - 1500 US dollars (but things have a different value in my country). Whith that money, you can either get the best digital there is (used) or an upright with uneven touch (also used, of course). That's why I was so surprised to read "upright is always better".

[richard black]

Why worry about emulating the touch of a grand? They vary anyway. An electronic keyboard with 'grand piano touch' is just hard work - fine, use it as a muscle-builder, but any old upright will develop you as a pianist better. You can't ever get a beautiful sound out of a keyboard but you can out of even pretty knackered mechanical pianos, grand or upright. If your technique is such that the touch of the piano is that critical to you, your technique needs attention.

[zheer]

. But my question is: which would best emulate the touch of a concert piano, a good electric or a mediocre upright?

, yamaha clavinova or roland? because I hear they are both very good.

   Yamaha clavinova are suprisingly good, personally i think they are great for late night practice if you live with other people. So for a piano student it is fantastic. However a good upright and you could buy one second hand for a very low price is a better option if you are really looking to learn the piano, since the move from upright to grand will only take you few hours or a day to adjust. good luck.

[pianowelsh]

As a college student I had a top of the range digital in my room for the times when I wanted to learn the notes of something but couldnt get a practice room at college. I have to say my technique was already pretty developed so I knew what I was looking for when I played - I basically played the digital as i would play a piano.  My technique advanced about 400% in these years so I dont hold to the fact that a digital ruins yyour technique - poor listening and lazy playing hinders your technique not the instrument per say.   Its true re upright/digital v grand piano though.  If you want a grand touch you need to buy a small grand because an upright has a different action and will handle sightly differently.  It does however have strings which is a distinct advantage over a gran touch on a digital which has nothing..there is a springyness to gran touch which is unrealistic.  I dont know what things cost where you are but a good digital can be equivalent to a mid priced new upright here. In those circumstances Id go for the upright.  If space and volume is a problem then a grand probably isnt an option but second hand they can kick in around £2000 - 2500 for not fantastic ones.  Something you should investigate is the Yamaha silent series pianos. these are acoustic but have the capacity to also be digital (extra pedal) this way you get the feel correct because it is a real piano, but you also have option to turn the sound off and play with headphones when people start complaining! They are a bit more expensive but they do them throughout the whole range of yamahas now so you might get a reasonably priced one.  try them out - you'll be surprised I think.