Advice on purchase.

[idler95]

Hi! I am looking to upgrade from a 49-key keyboard to an actual piano, and I have narrowed it down to two options. I'm from South-America so my options are VERY limited, both on budget and product availability, so please refrain from suggesting other options

I'm between a Yamaha upright, apparently in great condition, about 16 years old, and a new Casio CDP-120.

Here's a pic from the Yamaha, maybe someone can help me identify the model:
https://mlv-s2-p.mlstatic.com/piano-yamaha-vertical-7531-MLV5231102635_102013-F.jpg

Thanks in advance.

[hfmadopter]

That Yamaha looks like the French Provincial they made for a while. They also made the same model for Everett Pianos. And that's just about as much as I know about them, I've never played one. I suspect the innards are much like a YU1. The person who could help you most about the model of the piano in these forums is Dan Silverwood, maybe you could PM him.

The two pianos of a kind of sort of similar design to that Yamaha I did enjoy playing were a Baldwin and a Wurlitzer. The Wurlitzer in particular had nice tone, both had decent action.

The Casio is a whole different thing, you couldn't have more two completely different pianos in mind ! I have to say I have never played a Casio on which I liked the action at all. Owning a Kawai digital I can't imagine ever owning the Casio, mostly due to the action difference. It's very hard to find a digital piano with decent action that costs under $2000 US, if you really really pick and choose your way through you might find one under $1000 on sale but certainly not under $500. One piano worth a look at that costs about $600US is the Yamaha P105. However, the Yamaha Cp 33 has much better action than that one at about $999 on sale but it requires external speakers and is getting to be an old design now ( still better action though).

[indianajo]

I auditioned an Everett 44" console in 1983 when I bought my Sohmer. It was a competent piano, but I liked the bass tone of the Sohmer 39" better. Everett  was owned by yamaha at the time but the were still manufacturing in Michigan.
Our church has a 2006 Yamaha 44" console.  Again, I find the bass to be flat and boring, but it seems a durable piano.  
In South America, I would think you would be able to find US pianos from the fifties.  I think many low hour Baldwins, Wurlitzers, or Sohmers should be available.  Even Everetts, although the tone of my Mother's 1953 Everett was inferior to the baldwins and Wurlitzers I have played. Steinways are superior, but many times have been played many hours in school use and have worn felts or hammer pivots.  
When buying a used piano, check the hammers and dampers are complete, the felts not worn in the middle.  Check the hammer shafts are straight and they don't wiggle. Check that every key works and does not stick.  intonation of used pianos depends on maintenance, but check that no pair of notes is way out, possibly indicating a loose pin hole.  Check that no bass strings are broken.  Inspect the soundboard that it isn't visibly cracked.  check to see how loud and soft the piano will go.  I recently tried a nineties produced Wurlitzer 40 that had poor repeatibiity of touch when played softly, compared to the Wurlitzer 44 I played at a church (probably 1970's) and my 1941 Steinway 40 and 1983 Sohmer 39 consoles. check how fast you can repeat one note with two fingers, to find out how fast the action is. I have played fifties 36" Baldwin Acrosonic spinets that were superior in every way to most pianos except they weren't quite as fast as my Sohmer  and Steinway I own, and the Steinway 44 I tried out in 1983.   The two digit numbers are the height of the piano in inches.  Even Hamilton by Baldwin is worthy of consideration, although they are missing the damper felts on 5 more notes.   
I wouldn't buy any digital instrument.  The wood ones last a lot longer as long as the roof is kept water tight, and mice or insects didn't eat parts.  

[idler95]

Thanks a lot for your replies. I will do everything I can to avoid purchasing a digital piano, although the person with the Yamaha seems to have vanished all of a sudden.

I am now looking at a Wurlitzer and a Steinway. Is there anything in particular I should be looking for in an upright other than the condition? I don't really know what an actual piano should feel like, I have only played on unweighted keyboards so far.

[indianajo]

Steinways draw a price premium, so check the casting marks that say Steinway, not just the silk screen paint on the wood.  Silk screen can be counterfeited for ~$30. 
The nineties Wurlitzer 40 had trouble playing soft, so play something soft and even like Moonlight Sonata movement one, and see how soft you can get without some notes not sounding.  The seventies Wurlitzer 44 had no problem with this, and my 1941 Steinway 40 and 1982 Sohmer 39 dont.  
Play every note, and even though out of tune, think about how it sounds and how you like that.  My mother's 1953 Everett had a noticable tone difference between the 2 string and 3 string notes, that I didn't like on the 2 string side. The church 2006? Yamaha 44 has boring bass notes.   I like my 1982 Sohmer 39 and my 1941 Steinway 40.  both have clear 'bell like" top octave highs, very similar to what Steinway grands sound like on record.  The latter two, I like the tone of the bass notes even though I know they are a beat frequency of higher tones, not actual 64 hz fundamental tones. 
The seventies Wurlitzer 44 was boomier, had a lot of volume for filling a church full of wool suits, but not so much attack at the beginning as the two pianos I own.  Yamahas consoles and studios I also find deficient in the attack loudness, but that is my taste.  
I liked the tone of my 1982 Sohmer 39 more than the 1982 Steinway 44 console I tried at the store. But the Steinway 44 had faster action, and heavier action suitable for training a piano student to play grands in concert.  The Sohmer I bought a had much lighter action, although the softs were repeatable and the speed was faster than anything I can do with one hand.  
You can look at the pin block.  My 1982 Sohmer has a 5 layer pin block and goes out of tune in less than a year on one note.  The 1941 Steinway has a solid wood pin block, and after I got it stable in 2010, is beginning to need tuning again winter 2013.  That is **** stable tuning, considering the temperature variation in my house from summer to winter.  
Check that your dampers are even on let off, too, although that can be adjusted with a file. 
Good luck.  

[perfectlygrand]

Idler95

As far as all the advice I'm reading here from all non-technicians please take it with a VERY BIG grain of salt.  Your job, and your job only should be to try out each instrument as to sound, feel, control of speed, and control over dynamics.  Your job is to narrow down the choices.  Stay away from anything shorter than the Yamaha you first showed.  Remember, the younger the better - pianos age structurally from changes in humidity.  The larger, the better scale and usually the tone.

After you've narrowed it down to 1 or 2 pianos you like, hire a qualified technician to go over the piano structurally, mechanically, and to give you advice on the asking price.  Pianobuyer.com has some excellent advice and there's also a video series on the homepage on how to buy a piano - however, none of it is a substitute for a good piano tech's eyes and ears.

Charles
www.perfectlygrand.com

[idler95]

I would think you would be able to find US pianos from the fifties.

Stay away from anything shorter than the Yamaha you first showed.  Remember, the younger the better - pianos age structurally from changes in humidity.

Thanks again for your replies! Isn't a piano from the 50/60's a bit too old? The problem is I really don't know what's better or worse than the Yamaha.

I'm having a LOT of problems finding a piano at an affordable price, but nothing I can do about that...

[hfmadopter]

Thanks again for your replies! Isn't a piano from the 50/60's a bit too old? The problem is I really don't know what's better or worse than the Yamaha.

I'm having a LOT of problems finding a piano at an affordable price, but nothing I can do about that...

We have to work within our budgets, not everyone has the cash on hand or availability to go out and buy a new or even newish piano. And all old pianos are not just some how "magically bad", it really depends on how they were cared for. I will submit that newer is not always necessarily better. It could be that a given brand say, around 1980-1990 ( as an example) went to some obscure country to be manufactured and ended up manufactured with inferior skills and or parts, where previously that was not the case. Yet newer ones of the same brand are not affordable. It is more likely that an older piano will need more TLC though ( the likelihood is greater). You need to hook up with a reasonable yet good technician anyway if you own an acoustic. Something, I might add, you would not need with a digital piano and is part of the reason why they are becoming so popular.