LOW-PRICE GRAND vs HIGH-PRICE UPRIGHT

[beginner1011]

Which among the two would be a better investment? Could you please give me some brand options ranging from $3000 to $10000?

[indianajo]

To a certain extent, let your ears inform you purchase.  Listen to masters playing the piano on CD's (not MP3 pod or cassette tape or radio) with high quality headphones and decide what kind of piano sound you like. I like, for example, Rudolf Serkin 3 Beethoven Sonatas on Colombia Masterworks.  Then audition instruments based on the sound, and the responsiveness.  Different brand and style actions have different speeds they will respond to note repetition. Get really fast at repeating one note with two fingers, then try out different brands and styles.  The fastest are typically the high end grand pianos but you will not be buying one of those for $10000 new.  When auditioning sound, try high notes, middle octave notes, notes just below the 3-2 string split (typically E-F below middle C) and low bass notes.  Don't let intonation affect your judgement- poorly tuned pianos of any quality sound bad, but even in a used beater, there should be a few notes where the 2 or 3 strings are in tune with each other.  Note that if you are going to play professionally, grands have heavier action that can be faster, and if the venue you are going to play at has one, you need to train up for it.  In the denominations that I might play for, studios and consoles are the rule.  I have extremely small wrists and forearms and had trouble with the weight of grands in my teens. Now that I am old with tendonitis and arthritis, I'm glad I bought a console unit, I can still go a couple of hours through the pain.  Grands take 4 men and special equipment to move, typically minimum $500 here in the midwest.  Consoles can be moved by 2 poorly trained men with a $75 dolly and a pad, so examine your purchase with future economic prospects in mind. 
All that being said, grands have been holding their value on the used market here, but there is a fire sale going on low usage console models that distresses me.  People price pianos as if they were used cars, which is not a good analogy, because piano deterioration is based more on usage (measured by how the middle octave hammers are worn down) and environmental instability (humidity changes).  Certain used consoles of amazing construction, from the fifties, have been going for $300 around here on the internet.  Admittedly, the aura of many brands has been destroyed by the abuse of the name by the later purchasers who used it to sell junk, but that doesn't destroy the quality of the actual instrument.  If you intend to drop the hobby and sell out, or intend to show off your beautiful furniture to your tony friends, buy a small grand of the popular current brands reguardless of how it sounds, you will get more of your money back.   If you are looking for beautiful music at a budget, many quality fifties and sixties consoles can be had for a song.  I'm proud of the sound my 1982 Sohmer 39" console, but I couldn't turn down a lightly used 1941 Steinway console for $1000 even if it had metal car scars on the veneer.  A used Steinway from the practice rooms of the local college, by contrast, sold for more money but anybody that bought that was stupid because of the high use.  Other fifties brands I have played felt were amazing were Baldwin (not Hamilton by Baldwin), high end Wurlitzers,  I have heard good things about other 50's brands but don't have enough experience to repeat it.  Fifties brands to stay away from if you are serious are Kimball, Whitney, many others.     My church has replaced a nineties import with a studio unit of the most popular brand lately; I didn't like the sound of the first and find the new studio even muddier.  I like pianos that sound like a bell ringing, not like an echo in a dark forested ravine. 

[richard black]

It makes a big difference whether you're talking about new or second-hand. New, the upright will probably be the better bet for long-term reliability. Second-hand, you can get some great bargains in the way of grand pianos because not many people these days want to give up that much floor space so it is very much a buyer's market. I got a really good, well-restored, Bechstein grand (Model V, equivalent to a B) quite recently for the price of a so-so upright.