The piano for the absolute beginner!

[ace_piano]

Hi everyone, it's ace.
I am planning to learn the piano, please give me some advice for the pianos.

Thank you

[pianist1976]

It depends on how much space is available at your home and how big your budget is. Without knowing this basic data isn't easy to recommend anything.

[ace_piano]

I want a upright piano,I consider the second hand one and my budget is no more than 2 grand(australian dollar),thank you.

[pianist1976]

Yamaha B1 is not bad at all. It's one of the cheapest but its rock solid built. I consider it better than those from cheap makes such as Pearl River. For its price and its size you cannot expect a superb instrument but I think that it's a reasonably good study instrument (and a space saver). You also cannot expect a warm, round tone but it's not unpleasant. It costs around 3000 eur which must be some 4000 AUD. I guess you may find it even cheaper in the second hand market.

[richard black]

Look for something a few years old, preferably European or maybe American manufacture, and get an expert opinion (from a technician or technically-minded pianist) on its condition before parting with any money.

[ace_piano]

Many thanks to you guys.

I'll find a tuner to help me to buy one.Thanks

[anna23b]

can somebody tell me how much costs good piano for begginer?

[keys60]

Anna,

You can get a spinet or a small console in decent shape for around 500, but keep in mind, they are very hard to sell when you want to upgrade. They can play ok, sound ok. Nothing fancy but enough to learn and have some fun on.  Sometimes you have to resort to giving them away just to make room for the new one. Best to have someone who plays or knows their way around pianos to check it out for you.

[plumbtree]

I think the piano for the absolute beginner is a Pearl River 108D1.  These instruments are built to the highest quality standards around.  Pearl River builds the Essex for Steinway.  Steinway would not have the Essex built by Pearl River if the workmanship and materials were not good enough.  Why is it that people have to bad mouth something in order to build up another brand?  Yamahas are good pianos and the Yamaha B1 is also.  The difference between the two can only be described in terms of sound and touch - and some people will like one and not the other. 

Don't reject a piano until you yourself have played it and decide that the sound and/or touch are not something you like. 

For someone with a limited budget, I personally think the Pearl River is the best piano available.  I like the sound and the touch.  I like the Yamaha too - but it costs quite a bit more.

[awesom_o]

I think the piano for the absolute beginner is a Pearl River 108D1. 

I agree. The Pearl River 108 is a fantastic choice for the beginner and should be available for less than $3000.

[indianajo]

It is amazing how many members here think the orientals invented the piano. Just like gunpowder.
If I were beginning I'd would pick up a nice spinet console for $40 to $100 at Goodwill or Salvation Army.  Spinets weigh about 200 lb and will fit in the trunk of my car if I slide them on the back up a board.  I heard a very nice Mason & Hamlin at Goodwill last year for $40.  It was even in tune.  
Check that every key works, there are no broken strings, the hammers and dampers are not visibly worn or mouse eaten, the soundboard is not visibly cracked. Check the hammer shafts are straight and not visibly rubbing each other.   Check the damper lifter (right) pedal works, these often get damaged in the move.  Left and middle pedals in cheap pianos often didn't do much from the factory.  
There are hundreds of these going to the dump every year because Grandma's treasure is in the way of the new big screen television.
Spinets are not fast enough for fifth year students.  One piano student in twenty makes it that far.  For $100-$200 you can have a decent second line 39-40 inch console that will last you a lifetime.  Brands to seek, Baldwin, Acrosonic, Hamilton, Sohmer, Wurlitzer, Chickering, Mason & Hamlin, Goodman, Steinway.  Brands to avoid, Winter, Kimball, Betsy Ross.  I've got a $1000 1941 Steinway 40 with really great tone and speed and really ugly veneer damaged by a child about 1945. It was horribly out of tune when I bought it, hadn't been tuned in 44 years.  Seven passes tuning in 2010 and I haven't tuned it again for three years.      Stable tuning is the difference between a $1000 Steinway and a $200 Sohmer.