BUYING & MAINTAINING a Piano - A Few Things To Consider... 

Are there any topics that you haven’t talked about in this channel? Your content is truly the best guidance for any pianist on RU-vid.

This is a topic that I don't think we've discussed yet on this channel. I hope these tips help if you're in the market to purchase a piano, or if you're wondering about maintenance schedule or tips for your current piano. I hope you're all having a great week of practicing!

Hi Josh, I took delivery of my new piano the day before yesterday! I upgraded from a Roland RP501R to an Irmler fully German made upright 122cm height. It needs to settle for a week or two then the tuner comes. One or two notes do sound a bit "off" like an old pub piano but the touch suits my ageing hands perfectly and I love the mellow tone. Here in Australia everyone wants to push you into a Yamaha but I wanted a traditional, mellow sounding European sound. It's polished rosewood and looks as good as it performs. I'm so happy this is a lifetime dream come true. 🎶🎶🎹

Wonderful advice. I sold pianos for thirty years: Kawai, Yamaha, Schimmel , Boesendorfer, rebuilt Steinway (rebuilder was Franco Skillan or Richard Davenport). I’ve found a good piano technician is a great ally for a piano buyer at all levels. It’s best to pay the technician for their time, some work on referrals through piano dealers and may not have their customers best interest at heart. As you said, play the instrument yourself (!), and let your ears be your guide. My present instrument is a Yamaha digital grand N3x AvantGrand. I chose this because I’m currently renting, but when I move back into a house, I’ll still keep it because of its great double escapement piano action, but eventually an acoustic piano (rebuilt Steinway B is my first choice).

It took me over six months to find my Boston piano. I loved the feel of it, as well as the sound. It was also in the right price range. I actually brought along my piano tuner to check it out and give me his advice right before I decided to take it.

Hi Josh, great advice as ever! I did exactly what you suggested when buying my Steinway refurbished "oldtimer" model A from 1910. I had my technician with me on one day, a professional pianist the second day and my music loving husband on the third day. And I am happy with my choice! If I may add this to your suggestions: I found it helpful to play on it several times within a few days, just to confirm my first impression. And I was also thankful for having the chance to play on it with no distracting audience around. It helped me to focus on the sound and touch. Have a great weekend!

I'm so glad to hear that many others start at a low. When I began learning, I was just on garage band:).

Thank you for this great video Josh!

the stuff your doing helps out a lot thank you

Great video Josh! Thanks! 🙏 😊

Another very helpful video. I really appreciate the time you take to produce relevant videos with useful content!

Love your content, after watching your videos it encourages me to go and do my practice for the day. Thank you Very Much!!!

Josh! You are so polite and down to earth!

1:23 Josh do you think you could play full pieces on this channel? With your sound quality it makes for a great listen

Love your channel keep it up.

🎼Thank you, Josh! This was very helpful!

Thank you! Excellent advice. I fell in love with a Steinway too- it was her action I fell for. Having your technician go and check out the piano first is so important. I felt much better about paying what I did once he OK'd it. And I agree- I highly recommend the Dampp Chaser system. I'd be a nervous wreck without it.

Great content Josh!

Always watching your video's, I really respect your opinion and this longer video was awesome to watch :)

Wow, i had no idea that a piano could be adjusted for you. That's really good to know! Oh, and great stories. This was useful and also fun to listen to.

Although I guess it's just common sense, I'd just add that the better the tuner-technician you have access to, the better. My father was lucky enough to have Ken Orgel come to our house to work on our old Kawai grand, and Mr. Orgel made a world of difference in the sound quality and playability of the piano! The piano had always had a heavy action that made playing it more of a battle than it should have been. Mr. Orgel was able to move the entire action--which our previous tuners apparently had no idea of how to do--in such a way that it somehow lightened the action. It made a wonderful difference. And he also was able to "tone down" the treble range--which had become strident due to the piano being played a lot--by voicing the hammers. And after all was said and done, he then proceeded to sit down at the piano and play a gorgeous professional quality on-the-spot rendering of Bill Evans's "Turn Out the Stars"! I believe Mr. Orgel was at the time--many years ago now--a member of the team of tuner-technicians who took care of the pianos at what was then still known as Orchestra Hall, in Chicago. (Now called "Symphony Center".) Anyway, if I were lucky enough to be able to afford to buy a piano, I would definitely try to bring along as highly competent and knowledgeable tuner-technician as I could find to assess pianos I liked. But unfortunately it's still money that makes the world go "round"--or at least makes it possible to buy a piano!

So useful!! Thank you so much :)

JOSH YOUR EPIC

Well said, I totally agree. I started off with a digital piano than upgraded to a Yamaha 2nd hand upright piano. Have been playing with this piano for about 3yrs. Personally I felt Yamaha sounds are very loud and it is not me. I’ve recently upgraded to a Kawai upright grand piano BL-71. The sound is totally different a whole new level. Of course budget is important. Go with what we can afford. And of course maintaining twice a year is important too. Cheers :)

Well, it was different. I started playing the piano 2 years ago and still play with a keyboard with 61 keys. I have a lot of problems with the weight of keys, how far they go down, missing some notes in octave 1 or 7, etc. I was about to just play occasionally and do not practice at all. But I just found a teacher and decided to change my point of view. Not only it doesn't going to ruin my fingers if I keep practicing with this instrument, but also it makes me feel great to restart it. I maybe can not buy a piano till 4 years from now but your inspiring words convinced me that it is not a crucial matter. What matters is that I LOVE piano and I am going to do my best. Thank you Josh.

All right, I'm just sticking with my digital piano! :D Good point about the sound board, though. I knew I couldn't put a piano into my current apartment, because in summertime it gets really tropical in here, but I was thinking about a hybrid like the Kawai NV5 and its sound board really wouldn't like the climate.

I have a Kawaii upright and i'm considering changing the hammers to german ones for a softer sound (I had a technician voice the current ones but it's still too bright I think), do you think this is a good idea? Thanks for the videos Josh, they're incredibly insightful

Great advice, thank you Josh. I’m wondering whether to restore our Seiler midsize grand (we inherited it) which has had a hard life, including at the hands of storers who behaved badly. Fine sound when in tune but a very expensive job, probably as much as £10,000. Oh, and please what is the title of the simple - and beautiful! - Chopin nocturne that you played at the start of your video? Marvellous!

I'm curious, what equipment do you use to record the sound of your piano videos? I have a great Steinway A piano, but I don't have good recordings of it because all I have is my iphone.

What do you think of Yamaha and kawai piano?

I’m surprised you had to change the hammers when you bought yours? I know yours is a Steinway. Did you use Abel hammers?

Hey Josh, I heard you play my favorite nocturne of Chopin(nocturne op72 no1 e minor! But i have some struggle to play the piece and I would like to hear a pro practice video for this piece. Thanks for your video's!

What is the difference between a piano tuner and a piano technician?

What piece was at 3:10?

Despite the name, Dampp-Chaser systems are as much for dry environments as they are for humid areas. They can serve to humidify as well as de-humidify the close-in area of the piano. Desert levels of dryness aren’t ideal.

Hey josh, I have been learning Rondo all Turka by Mozart and I have been having a lot of trouble with the broken octaves. A video on that would be of great help. Thank you for all your help

3:08 what s the piece

Things to consider buying a piano: 1.- buy a concert grand. Thats it.

1:21 Which Chopin nocturne is this?

whats the piece he plays at 3:10 please ?

Many piano tuners can only tune a piano string which is good, of cause BUT, they have no ability to VOICE the instrument.

for people who can't afford a good piano, try renting one.