Investing in a Piano

Buying a piano is one of the most important investments you will make toward becoming a proficient pianist. Unlike other household goods, pianos are designed to last 50 or more years, so long as you provide them with proper and consistent care.

Parents are sometimes tempted to purchase a very inexpensive and poor-quality piano initially, to gauge whether the student will continue with lessons for the long term. Although that approach is somewhat understandable, it has two pitfalls:

-Buying a low-quality piano may impede the progress of the student so that he or she becomes uninterested and discontinues lessons.

-A well-cared-for piano will depreciate relatively little over the years so that, if the student ceases to be interested in the instrument, or needs to upgrade to an even better instrument, the used piano may be traded or sold for close to the amount of the original investment.

For these two reasons, I highly recommend buying a good quality, reliable instrument, even if it is used. Most families will be well served by the two major Japanese manufacturers: Kawai and Yamaha (find the links to those manufacturers below).

In Tallahassee, we have one piano dealer, Jim’s Pianos. Jim’s carries a wide assortment of pianos and keyboards to suit almost any budget.

Not too far from Tallahassee, in Thomasville, GA, there is also a small store that carries new and pre-owned pianos, Bloch Piano.

Another dealer I recommend is Piano Works. They are located in Duluth, Georgia, and provide many pianos to the College of Music at Florida State.

Best Piano Manufacturers

There are many piano brands to choose from when buying a new or used instrument. Likewise, the price of a piano can range from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Below, you will find links to the websites of some of the major current piano manufacturers. The ones with an asterisk (*) are brands that I highly recommend. The links are further categorized by their cost from $ to $$$.

Baldwin $$

Boston $$$

Essex $$$

Fazioli $$$*

Hailun $*

Kawai $$*

Pearl River $

Steinway $$$*

Yamaha $$*

Young Chang $$

For more information about piano prices and quality, and more detailed information on how to choose a good piano, please visit Blue Book of Pianos or purchase The Piano Book.