Piano buying advice wanted?

[richardwalter]

Hi,

I have started researching what to look at for pianos but am unsure at what I would be better doing.
Do I go with a second hand or buy something new. I don't want to spend a fortune but I don't want to get something that won't last either.
I went to have a look today and quite like the look of the Kawai K-300 but am wondering if I should search out second hand. If so, what am I looking for?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[indianajo]

Advice depends on what continent you are on.
In the midwest USA, great console pianos are going to the dump daily because people want to hear a line of ******** from a salesman about something new. I've heard so much from female Y****** owners about the salesmen here with the beautiful green eyes.   The new pianos don't have any scratches or spots either.  If you want beautiful furniture buy an armoire.  If you want beautiful music, a $200 piano can satisfy.  Competently built pianos last tens of thousands of hours and most purchasers gave up practicing at book one and never hardly played it.  Years don't matter either; pianos don't have brass wire harnesses or rubber parts to age sitting still like cars and TV's do.  
Kawai makes a competent piano. I've heard two & played one and I liked it.  
Brands I like on the used market, Baldwin, Hamilton by Baldwin, Sohmer, high end Wurlitzer, Chickering, Mason & Hamlin, York, Knabe, Everett, Grinell Bros of Detroit,  Steinway. Steinway is last because they are pricey and often high hours needing maintenance due to life in a school or as a teaching instrument. My 1941 Steinway 40 was $1000 because of major veneer damage caused by children, not because of action or sound problems.   All these are pre-globalization US built units, forget the **** imported from *****.  Watch for missing dampers more than an octave & a fifth, and short scale on the treble end, to spot the bargain line.    Brands with some reputation I've never heard personally include Cable Nelson, Fazoli, Petrov, Dominion.  Brands I seriously don't like, Winter, Whitney, Yamaha (consoles only) Kimball, Betsy Ross, Pearl River.  
See post 4 of this thread to learn how to inspect a piano before involving a $60 an hour tech:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=58857.0
If the piano is $300 or under, don't pay a tech, just haul it to the dump if something unseen bites you later.  A loose pin, broken treble wire, one sticky key or a bent damper rod can be repaired for $300 or less, scooped home position hammer or damper felt or clevis glue falling apart  or bent hammer shafts is a call for scrapping (other than a high end grand which may be worth rebuilding)
As I said, don't worry about out of tune on home pianos.  if you insist on being in tune a reseller will be glad to retune it, keep it in a showroom,  and double or triple the price.  Home pianos are being sold because they are in the way and you get the price urgency of an owner who wants the carpet man to come soon or whatever.  
In the far east or places that flood a lot, the supply of used pianos is not as great as here.
Have fun shopping.