Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Only 6K to spend on a new or used baby grand in CA

I know that from experience, Maestro Ng. I have a 1956 45" Baldwin Hamilton sitting next to my mom's 1998 4'11" Young Chang PG-150, and the Baldwin sounds noticeably better than the Young Chang.

Point Proven.

Pardon the ignorance, but I have yet to research about Kohler & Campbell. Based on what I read here, it is a better option for under 10K for a baby grand than the entry-level baby grand by Kawai.

Do you agree? I will find dealers in Northern California.

If you have the room then get a baby grand.It is what you want.Enjoy your search.Play lots of pianos and be tough,don't get railroaded.Pianos are not flying off the shelves.Sleep on it and come here to ask more questions.The people here are very helpful and knowledgeable.

Maestro NG,
Not necessarily point proven. More like comparing apples and oranges. We do the challenge on nearly a daily basis in the store where I work. We demonstrate the tone and show the repetition on the new Yamaha U3 52" then the GB1 4'11". Whenever the shopper is a player, we have them sit and play both. I have yet to have a shopper prefer tone or the touch of the upright over the baby grand. The GB1 is actually cheaper than the upright. We are not trying to angle or move the customer. The pianos speak for themselves. Comparing the GC1 5'3" is even more dramatic.

I realise that upright and grands are very different, so it certainly is up to personal preference. It may not be true that large uprights are better than small grands for ALL cases of large upright vs small grands, for example, I won't compare a small Steinway grand to a large Yamaha, but it does make a lot of sense if you look at it from the technical point of view. And of course you speak of money, and that is true too. I can guarantee the large Bosendorfer upright will be better than a small Kawai grand for example, but it'll almost certainly be much more costly.

We had a wonderful Kawai 52" upright that sounded great but bought a 4'11' baby grand for the action.We believe the cheap baby grand from China has a more lively,ringing tone with not much difference in the low end.We had the upright in the same room for several weeks until we could sell it, so side by side comparison was easy.B.T.W. We did need to have the grand prepped to get it really sounding good.

Let's even the playing field somewhat. Aside from the issue of the action comparison of a grand vrs. an uprt.repetition,aftertouch,letoff etc.You take the kickboard and front panel off a good U3 and than make the comparison.

I think I got very lucky back in January, but with a little persistence, you could find a good used grand in your price range. I tried dozens of pianos from Craigslist, and that was a huge disappointment. Every single piano was listed as a 'hidden gem,' but each of them was beyond the pale. I nearly gave up and decided to stick with my 46" Knabe. But an old aquaintance who was moving his studio had some pianos at a huge discount. He picked out five of them for me after I told him what I hoped for in the action and sound. I didn't care about the cabinet so much. I wound up with a 1928 Sohmer with new strings, pins, reconditioned board, pinblock, pedals. I paid less than $5,000 and I've been thrilled. The cabinet needed some work, but with a weekend of TLC, it looks very good for its age.

There's a 6'4" mid-1970's Knabe grand for sale from a local pianist for something like $6500. Sounds nice and well-kept from the ad. Are the mid-1970's Knabes, if well-kept, good instruments?

Like dglo, we have a 46" Knabe/Samick. I would love to upgrade into a grand, as we have the space and my 8 year old has taken a strong liking to piano (unlike me, when I was 8 years old).

Who wants a big ugly Yamaha U3 in their living room without the top and bottom door?

You wrote "point proven" based on one poster's opinion who agreed with yours.

What does saying a Bosendorfer upright sounds better than a small Kawai prove? It costs almost twice as much!

The size of the soundboard is only one factor of many determining the tonal quality.

My opinion would be at a certain(lower)price point many would say between two similarly priced pianos the upright is better. As the price point increases, the grand becomes a better and better choice. Finally, when a certain price point is reached most, would say the grand is better.