when buying a piano...

[Tash]

my parents are finally contemplating getting me a new piano (woohoo!!!) and so they told me to go research it first, so i'm thinking of going to a few piano shops to see what they have. so can anyone give me any tips, like some important questions to ask and stuff? thanks

[Axtremus]

Playing a wide range of pianos and get a better handle of what sort of sound and touch you like is more important than anything else in the early stage of a piano search. Try not to have any pre-concieved notion of what piano you should like and which brand/model of piano should react how. Just play everything you can get your hands on with an open mind.

Try to get a sense of what's available out there, and after visiting a few shops, you'll gradually figure out what you like and what you don't, and you can narrow it down from there and ask more specific questions later.

Don't be shy to politely ask the sales people to leave you alone so you can concentrate on trying out the pianos.

Good luck.

[iumonito]

Where are you?

[jon-nyc]

my parents are finally contemplating getting me a new piano (woohoo!!!) and so they told me to go research it first, so i'm thinking of going to a few piano shops to see what they have. so can anyone give me any tips, like some important questions to ask and stuff? thanks

Axtremis, as usual, gives great advice.  But it might make sense to get an idea of what your parents budget is, then you'll know only to look at pianos that cost around twice that  .

[Tash]

thanks people! i'm in sydney, so i think the first place i'll go is theme & variations, which only sells steinways i believe, which are most probably out of my price range but hell i just wanna go play their pianos! but yes i should probably go work out how much i'm allowed to spend haha