Just been out with the family.
My eldest, 22, mentioned that he nearly won an eBay auction for a piano while drunk the other night. £1100 it was.

Anyway, we had independently been considering buying a piano for some time but a digital piano.
His response when we mentioned digital was that it has to be a traditional piano. Digital is inferior.
Is he right? Any thoughts please, experiences?

Upright pianos can be anywhere on the spectrum from unplayable to brilliant. Personally, I’d want to play it before I bought it if it was a used one.

Digital pianos don’t go out of tune, sound pretty good these days and are considerably lighter and easier to move around. They generally don’t feel as nice to play, although the difference has become less in recent years. They do look a little naff as well.

I run a musical instruments business so PM me if you need more detailed advice.

JP

I lived in a third floor flat for my masters. There was an upright piano in the corner of the living room. I have no idea how someone got it there.

How long has he been playing?

As for digital being inferior, depends i guess on your point of view, if you are after the resonance and stuff a real piano will give you, or just the sounds and feel.

But a piano is a piano, nothing more. Digital can do so much more. I’d take digital all day long.

Plus if you are looking at a £1000 piano, you aren’t buying a Steinberg grand piano, so how good is it really going to be? Digital will be able to reproduce the sound of many famous pianos and a whole other world or sounds..

But it all really depends what is wanted. The argument could go both ways I suppose, I prefer digital, but that’s because I want much more than a piano, and I’m not really interested in the finer details of an acoustic piano.

We are currently looking after a slightly worn August Forster piano whilst a colleague is away for a year. I can confirm that the things are bastard heavy to move (we paid someone to move it in the end!).

If he wants a real one then just bide your time – there are good and bad ones about but the price isn’t set by quality-  its more the vendor’s need to get rid.

This time last year I picked up a baby grand piano for £50 (and the £50 was a courtesy really) I was only buying it for looks as a prop but it was perfectly playable. The owner just needed to get it out of the house

My father in law is all but professional pianist.
We have a second hand Roland, cost about £300iirc on a new price of about £5k. Apparently it is lovely to play, key action wise, better than many normal piano’s.
He has a new £7k Yamaha that is as nice to play but has much wider range of sounds and does sound nicer.
IMO as the average punter listening to both father in law and a grade 7 son, our Roland is brilliant. Yes the piano teachers baby grand sounds lush, but not that much more lush.
Headphones are a massive bonus at times too…

Interesting juxtaposition between drunkenly bidding on ebay and insisting on a proper instrument. Pianos are far better than keyboards… for piling stuff on top of, displaying ornaments etc.

I bought my other half a piano for Christmas a few years back. It doesn’t get played very often but is a nice piece of furniture and suits our Victorian house very well. £1100 though seems like a huge amount – i seem to remember most of them were virtually worthless?

I have an upright piano that I love playing – it definitely sounds nicer than any electronic thing I’ve heard (v limited experience).

It’s heavy, takes up loads of space and I can rarely play it (we live in a terrace). Headphones would be great.

i seem to remember most of them were virtually worthless?

+1
We mooted getting an upright a few years back and had 2 or 3 offered to us for free. Buyer collects though 😉

My post isn’t clear – both ours are digital.

I live close to Sherwood Phoenix in Mansfield, they have around 150 pianos in stock. Last time i was in they had a Victorian upright they were trying to shift for just the cost of delivery – they also had modern equivalents for £10k upwards! The chap behind the counter couldn’t explain why Victorian examples are worthless.

We have an upright piano. It’s been in the house for 20 years and gets tuned yearly at £80 a time. It never gets played.

We also have a Roland RD-70 stage piano.

I bought it from a mate for £180. It gets played pretty much every day and has never gone out of tune once.

i reckon a 2k stage digi piano will be superior to a 2k upright in almost every eay. and it wont go out of tune and you can move it yourself.

I have a Nord (the red ones you see at concerts) and it is marvellous

We had this debate recently as my wife’s grandfather is a very good pianist and has always wanted the grand kids to have a piano to play.
We looked at both types and just preferred the sound and looks of the normal piano. Yes, they’re heavy but don’t take up much more space than an electronic one when it’s in place.
The girls love playing it and said they preferred it to an electronic one.
Everything is electronic/digital/wireless these days so it’s nice to have a ‘proper’ musical instrument and the eldest (7) is also really interested in how it actually works.

As above, you can probably get hold of a decent upright which someone has been trying to get shot of for the price of a van hire and bribing some mates to help. There are always folk who buy one for little Jonny, who promptly gave up after Grade 2.

But it’s hit and miss, it could be a dud, and it won’t have been tuned for years, probably.

We gave one away for anyone who was prepared to come get it when we were moving house in a hurry a few years back. Our current one cost us about 800 quid, mainly because we needed it delivered.

We have an upright piano. It’s been in the house for 20 years and gets tuned yearly at £80 a time. It never gets played.

There you go, go and give Perchy his wall back.

Everything is electronic/digital/wireless these days so it’s nice to have a ‘proper’ musical instrument and the eldest (7) is also really interested in how it actually works

Other than a lack of a huge box, you’d be hard pressed to tell ours is electric. It weighs a bit, made of solid wood, has mechanical movement on the keys, solid brass pedals etc. Even the speakers are hidden underneath and behind. It has one small screen and 5 or so buttons in the middle as the only give away.

There you go, go and give Perchy his wall back.

Not gonna happen. My wife needs somewhere to store all those expensive teddy bears.

teddy bears

/Thread derailment

What is is with the teddy bears? A neighbour has a windowsill full, mother in law loves and names them all…

Pianos are far better than keyboards… for piling stuff on top of, displaying ornaments etc.

Indeed,ours even gets played a few times a year (FIL is a pianist).
I don’t mind the loss of wall space,the sound through the house when it’s played properly is lovely.
As rich says ,you see a few advertised as free to uplift.

I recently bought a acoustic upright from a shop in bath which had 40 plus to try ranging from reconditioned models from about £1800 upto new grand yahamas etc at £25K (i think) after working my way round playing all of them. i couldn’t really hear or feel the extra money in the more expensives ones so went with one from 1986 for £2.5. which feels and sounds like the one i learnt on when i was a kid. I have tried a few electronic and if you are regularly moving it for gigs etc i think they are brilliant. We had a old one my brother bought about 25years ago which the kids were banging around on for a while but if i heard the demo songs played at full volume one more time i was going to take an axe to it.
I was once told my a piano turner once, the problem with alot of the victorian ones being given away for free these days, is they are very hard to keep in tune once they get that old, unless they were orginally very good ones, and most aren’t.

Hope you are detached, or don’t put it near the adjoining wall.

What is is with the teddy bears?

Mrs P has an extensive collection of Stieff bears.*

The oversized ones sit on top of the piano.

* including a PB55, bear fans.

Bears and Panthers in the same place 😉

ok I’m not a pianist but in terms of practicality a digital is definitely the better call – especially if there are kids in the house !! headphones mean you can practice without annoying family or neighbours. plus you don’t have to pay a tuner every year

In terms of ‘sound’ its all so subjective but a modern digital with good weighting system and a good quality sample will match an acoustic

if you really feel the need to play a stringed piano, go to the railway station where they have them, or the one outside Forsyths in manchester

There was an upright piano in the corner of the living room. I have no idea how someone got it there.

My two pennies, an electronic keyboard is a tool that can be used in all sorts of ways. An acoustic upright piano if it’s halfway decent has a particular quality which is only achievable with wood and steel.

Okay. Thanks all, plenty to consider.
We’ll discuss and then decide (on a digital piano) 🎹 ! after we’ve played with a few.

Love the Lego animation btw, somebody’s talented/bored.

I wouldn’t by an upright piano without trying it…and even then I’d think twice. For that money you could probably pick up a second hand Clavinova which is likely to be better, both feel and sound. And there’s a world of difference between an electronic keyboard and and electronic piano (like a Clavinova). The latter will have more realistic piano feel and sound but less “bells and whistles” (literally!). Depends what you/he wants

CBA to read the whole thread, but IMHO if you’re spending a grand you’ll get a bloody decent digital piano that you can put anywhere in the house, play any time of the day or night and it’ll never need tuning.

Spending a grand on an upright piano will get you a better instrument that you’ll have to put somewhere specific, won’t be able to move, will need regular tuning and you couldn’t take out to a gig if that was your jam.

I’d go digital all day.

Incidentally, me and Mrs P saw a guy supporting the lemon twigs called Matt Maltese and his digital piano sounded fantastic. They were the best ‘sounding’ live band I’ve ever seen (not necessarily the best band ever, just very good)

at a grand I’d go digital (having been through the same thing about a year ago).  You don’t need the tuning and modern digitals sound amazing though I suspect you probably need to spend a bit more to get something that feels as good as a real piano. I had a friend who used to give concerts and he had a digital in his house as he could play at all hours, it felt good and although didn’t sound as good as a real piano was more than good enough for practical purposes

On the downside there is a Yamaha Clavina that I use that after 11 years is starting to need the keys replacing as the plastic starts to warp and they begin to stick.  They’re not difficult to change but digitals won’t last as long as a real piano.  Trade that off against 10 years of tuning though and it still doesn’t look too bad

I used to play the piano as a kid ( my one regret in life was giving it up as I seemed to show some promise) and we had a half decent upright and I played on my teachers high end upright and occasionally she let me play her grand, which was an experience and a half I still remember. I can completely get the digital is inferior thing because playing a real piano has so much more depth to it than an electronic keyboard, not in sound quality as such but in the whole experience, the feel, quality and depth of the sound, the smell, just the whole experience. Depends if you want a practical tool or something to properly experience and enjoy.

Like vinyl vs CD’s, modern sterile but efficient car or taking a 1960’s sports car out for a spin, real leather vs. Sweaty plastic etc.

If I were to take up the piano again i’d Probably kick off with an electronic board, but if I stuck with it and continued i’d Be wanting a proper upright for sure. No comparison really.

Wife is a pro musician and she won’t touch digital, so there must be a difference. However agreed there’s a trade off with functionality and convenience. Had a few pianos in the house over the years, both grands and upright, and all the decent ones go for good money. Now have a 1970s Yamaha U3 which seems to be a benchmark for decent affordable uprights (I’m no expert!) Does sound lovely.

Back in the late sixties early seventies pals and me used to decommission a few pianos, I wasn’t even a teenager but the work dried up and we went bust. Pianos had a strange smell if i remember, anyone else break up pianos?

We’ve got an upright – it’s just a nice thing to have in the house. 🙂

If you go digital make sure you look at pianos don’t get a semi weighted keyboard, they are terrible things. Get a proper graded action piano. You don’t need to spend the Earth to get something nice, but the more you spend the better you get. About 500 quid or so if the minimum you want to go.

I’ve got a Roland fp30 which to me feels fantastic, I’m a tinkerer though with it hooked up to my computer for a shedload more options. The action feels great but the keys are a touch on the short side. If you are going 1000 you should get something really nice. They’ll all hook up to computers so the Sonic options of the aren’t just what’s in the box.