1988 Yamaha G2 Baby Grand Piano, $5K -- Good buy?

[rebel_xt]

Hi everyone!

First post!

I'm looking to purchase a baby grand piano for our house and have been flipping back and forth between buying new, or looking on for a used one.  Budget would be about $12-15K for new and about $6-8K used.

Found a nice sounding Yamaha G2 for $5,900, but the owner did say would consider selling for $5K.  Piano needs a good tuning as it hasn't been tuned for years, but otherwise has nice open sounds.  The lid has a chip on the edge, which can be fixed (i think?) and a few other minor scuffs and scratches.  Decent for a 23 y/o piano I suppose.

Do you guys think it's a good deal?  Or would I better off looking for a used C2/C3 piano?  For new pianos, with my budget the range of Yamaha baby grands would be the entry level ones (GB1/GB2) which are at around 5FT in length, with fairly thin sounding notes.

Thanks for help!!

[keys60]

Are you an experienced player? Take your time and put the piano through its paces for an hour or 2. Sometimes seriously out of tune sounding pianos could mean the hammer is striking a string on the note next to it, being the hammer is out of alignment. Not being tuned in many years are also signs of neglect, so be careful.

5K is a pretty fair price for that piano if its in good playable shape and not in need of any serious repairs. I would have a piano technician check it for a fee. Its worth the minor cost for peace of mind.
Don't sweat the chip on the lid. Minor cosmetic flaws have zero to do with how good a piano is.

[rebel_xt]

Thanks for the reply Keys.

I'm an Amateur keys/piano player in a band on weekends, and my wife is an arct pianist.  We'd both like to play on a nice acoustic piano on a regular basis at home.

The seller told me the piano had been sitting in a storage for the past 8 years, without it being tuned much during her playing years.  Definitely a red flag.  I guess we'll keep on looking for a newer piano that's within 10 years old.  Might as well spend a little more money on it and enjoy it for a longer time.

[keys60]

Storage.....temperature and humidity controlled. If not, that piano already has serious problems. I'd keep looking.