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I've read that an acoustic piano has a life span of about 50 years and, perhaps, the first 10 years are it's best. Of course you can have them completely restored at great cost.

What is the life span of the average digital piano? What's it's mechanical weak points? I would assume the better digitals can be restored but not sure.

Bech

Digital pianos are more like computers and cell phones.
What is the life span of a computer? It might last 25 years but who'd want a 25 year old computer?

It's the same with a digital piano. There are many 10 year old DPs that no one wants that can't be sold for a third of their new price The "problem" (if it is a problem) is that the technology moves fast and the digital pianos get better every year. So you buy one and use it for five years and it still works fine but you notice the new ones sound so much better and the price is affordable so you replace your perfectly working piano with a new one. The same way you replace your computer or cell phone, not because they break.

Typically you can sell a DP for half the price you paid if you don't keep it for too long. 3 to 5 year old DPs are still sellable. At 10 years they practically have to be given away

I think this is one of the big advantages of digtal -- they are NOT a lifetime investment and keeping up with the advancing state of the art is reasonably affordable. Buy something inexpensive an as your skills improve then you can move up

Digital pianos are a new technology. Pianos are now centuries old while DPs are decades old. Maybe in 100 years digital technology will become mature and the rate of change will decrease.

There is no incentive to refurbish a digital, an older DP that has been re-built to like new specs (if this could even be done) would have very little economic value.

The lifespan of a digital piano is basically until the technology changes sufficiently to make it obsolete (5 years?). Other than that, a lot will depend on how you play it. Usually, a DP has many plastic components, particularly in the keys, that are subject to cracking with heavy use and age. Circuit components will also give out, eventually. As for restoration, I doubt it would be worth it for most DPs, particularly once off-the-shelf parts are no longer available. It's a computer, and probably should be regarded as such for the purpose of determining age and repair viability.

I guess the thing to do is not look or play with new dps. Or stop reading this forum. :o).

I guess if your dp has midi connections, you should be able to upgrade the sound easily enough. Upgrading the feel may be more costly..

the annoying thing is that older DPs especially have on/off pedals, so even if they have MIDI you still can't get the full experience from things like pianoteq that models partial pedaling etc.

You can buy a MIDI pedal controller to replace the simple on/off switch.

Plenty of people here have talked about their old, old digital pianos ... still working.

The most likely points of failure are probably the keyboard contacts. Plenty of people here have asked for advice on how to do repair on them. (It's probably worth doing on an expensive piano, but not on the low-price models.)

Other than that, expect a long life from a digital.

When comparing DP vs AP, you can bring up a lot of factors, but the most misleading factor that can be used to compare these 2 types is obsolescence.

If obsolescence is in terms of "want", meaning I "want" the newer and better DPs because of quick technology changes, then that's an older DP vs newer DP comparison, it's not a DP vs acoustic comparison anymore. If anything, if one "wants" a DP over an acoustic even though it doesn't sound or feel as good as the acoustic, that means all the other factors have already trumped over the acoustic, hence made the acoustic already "obsolete" in the eye of the DP buyer. So why bother say that the DP will be obsolete faster?

And if the "want" is as in having a simple use model of just playing the piano, neither the DP or acoustic will be obsolete in their life time because this use model will never change. If you're happy with playing piano on your acoustic 50 years later, why wouldn't you be happy with playing piano the same way on your digital 50 years later?

If obsolescence is in terms of depreciation rate when you want to sell, I would have to say you need to factor in maintenance cost for the acoustic, too. For example, if you buy a DP for $10K and it depreciates 50% 5 years later, you're out $5K when you sell. But if you buy a $10K acoustic and it depreciates 25% in 5 years, you're out $2.5K. But add in about $1.5K of maintenance over 5 years (at $300/year) for the acoustic, you're out $4K. So the difference is not that much. And don't forget that maintenance cost for an acoustic is never-ending until the end of life of the acoustic, and is going no-where but up in terms of labor cost. So the longer you own the acoustic, the more the total cost of ownership is.

And note that most high end DPs today, with the exception of the Avant-Grand, are not in the $10K range in the first place. Most are in the $5K range. So because the DP is usually much cheaper than the AP in the first place, higher depreciation still doesn't mean you lose out more money when you want to sell. So even though people know that DPs may depreciate faster, they still tend to pick a DP over an AP because they can usually find a DP (that keeps them happy enough) for a much lower price than an AP anyway.

If you're trying to chose between DP or AP, you're probably already are leaning toward one or the other based on many things. People who are inclined toward DPs tend to care more about things like no maintenance and volume control, while people inclined toward APs tend to care more about sound and feel. So the people inclined toward DPs will probably go with a DP anyway despite the depreciation issue. The people inclined toward APs will probably buy an AP anyway because they can afford the higher price and higher maintenance, and depreciation is probably an academic justification to them, but not a key factor in their choice.

The bottom line to me is that obsolescence is not really a big issue in the DP vs AP debate like some people make it out to be. If a buyer uses it as the swaying vote, he/she really totally misses out on the other much more important points that should be key to their decision.

As for the life span of a digital piano in terms of its reliability for being fully functional, DPs and electronic keyboards have already been around for the last 30 years or so, and I'm sure many of them still work fine. So I wouldn't worry about them having a short life span and breaking down too soon while you own them.

Yeah, that's why we all are still watching our 9 inch black and white, rabbit ear television sets in our bedrooms. lol

If you want to use this analogy, I'd have the say that your 9 inch B/W rabbit ear TV set is the acoustic, and the 42" HD color LCD TV today is the DP, lol.

How about a few more analogies? Vinyl records vs today's MP3 player? The VHS/Beta VCR vs today's BlueRay DVD player? Yesterday's black & white film camera vs today's 10 megapixels color digital SLR camera? LOL.

I would say a live theatre performance or live concert is the acoustic while the lawrence welk show on the b&w TV is the digital of 20+ years ago. Live is still live now or then and will be live tomorrow. But the technology of the box projecting the pre-recorded images has changed dramatically and will likely continue to evolve.

I think the analogies mentioned only hold up to a point. The DP is in a different class from other products of technology, in that it is a "wannabe" item. It is trying to be something else, and is currently only part-way towards its goal of being indistinguishable from an AP. Therefore, as an iteration of this paradigm, its lifespan in relation to its goal is very limited: it will be superseded.

However, if one is prepared to overlook the shortcomings of its mimicry and love it for what it is in its own right, its lifespan is, of course, as long as the components hold out. The problem is that most of us find it difficult to overlook its deficiencies when measured against the "real thing". We have been inculcated with the sense of touch and tone of the pinnacles of piano perfection, and we now cannot settle for anything perceptibly less. In some ways it's good: it drives research and keeps the market afloat. We may be reaching the point where, for some people, its good enough, and they can live happily with their Yamahas, Rolands and Kawais for the rest of their days. But there are plenty for whom that point is still a long way off.

Again referring to the cell phone. If you had a suitcase size cell phone in the 1970's and you were happy with it why are you not using it today? The reason it that you were not really happy in the 70's and would have bought a smaller phone that clips to your ear leaving you hands free but nothing like that was available.

Same with Digital pianos. Today I really wanted a digital piano with better tone, more dynamic range and power than a $100K concert grand, I want it to weight 2 pounds and fold into a small package so I can carry it with me. But I can't buy one. In the mean time I play a P155. But I'll upgrade when I see something closer to what I want and I can afford it.

The flaw in your argument is that no one is every really 100% happy with a piano even on day one. ALL pianos (digital and acoustic) are compromises to price, or size. But with digital piano it is not hard to upgrade so in practice people do.

The key fault in this reasoning is that acoustic pianos still perform and act like what they are: acoustics. While digital pianos are designed to emulate these acoustic pianos. They do so better with each new iteration, but reveal themselves on one dimension or another as imperfect approximations. As soon as one becomes aware of the " next, greatest illusion " offered by one's current digital, then the old one becomes unsatisfying.

Those who are buying digital pianos because they sound like digital keyboard instruments from anno whatever year they buy them may be an exception in that emulation of an acoustic was not the goal. The Clainet is one example. But, then again, that is not a digital piano strictly speaking.

Analogies are interesting but can be misleading.

If a ten year old acoustic was any good in the first place, it still is. And will be worth something, even in twenty more years.

The ten year old DP will sound as good as ever, but its monetary value is very low compared to the acoustic. And in twenty more years it will be worthless (actually there will be a disposal fee so it will be less than worthless).

I think that digital pianos are only a pour substitution for real pianos, and that the prices of them are very unfair. Most people engaged in piano business think so, most pianists think so, and I do not understand how anybody can ever compare those two things. It is like comparing a finest silk shirt with the one made of synthetics, like comparing the fresh squeezed orange juice with the one made from different chemicals and colors,real women breast with the silicon one, and many other uncomparable things. The first is real, the second is a copy. It can be good, or bad, but it will always remain what it is> just a copy. Sorry if I have offended the lovers of a copies.

Well, one thing about this comparison is that the high-end digitals are coming close to maturity.

For example, I have a Roland rd700gx, the latest model. I have played many hours on its predecessor, the sx, and there is very little difference in how the two actually play and sound. There are tweaks, such as a new keycap feel, and a wheel rather than up and down buttons on the gx, but the two pianos are essentially the same. If someone changed the keycaps of either, and I closed my eyes, I do not think I could tell the difference.

So I think it is difficult to imagine the technology getting radically better to the point that ten years from now we will have as great a leap in improvement as the last 15 or so years has given.

And that is not a problem, because both Rolands play and sound wonderful, quite a bit better than the average entry-level cheap acoustic, and certainly leagues ahead of any worn and/or unmaintaned acoustic of any size or configuration.

But compare those two Roland dps to a digital of ten or fifteen years ago, and the older generation instruments are notably inferior.

So I think that the high-end dp of today (not the cheapies) are like washing machines...the technology of washing clothes was mature decades ago.

All the manufacturers do to "improve" today's washing machines is change the color, add a few tweaks, more cycles, etc, but today's washing machine functions basically the same, and does realistically no greatly better job at washing clothes than a ten year old or twenty year old machine.

(Before anyone flames me, I love and prefer acoustics, as long as they are really good, and impeccably regulated. But clunker and junker and cheapo acoustics, even top tier ones that are unmaintained, and thus play and sound horrible, you can keep them all. Also, I have a dp because it is impractical to move a 700 pound piano to gigs, which is where I use the dp.) Thanks.

This is where you and I see things differently because I don't see the DP as just a "wannabe" item. The only aspect that is "wannabe" on a DP is the sound. Even the "feel" aspect can be already solved by using the same key action mechanism like the Avant Grand did. And for the sound front, the DP will always improve until it's close enough that people at some point don't see a significant difference to nitpick on anymore.

On the other hand, there are other things that are "unique" on a DP that the acoustic will never be able to deliver, let alone try to emulate to the DP, such as volume control/headphone play, perfect tuning, no maintenance, MIDI playback/recording, better portability, and the ability to morph itself into many other things including more sounds.

So turn the table around and ask yourself whether the acoustic can deliver or even emulate any of that? So how can the DP be just a "wannabe"? My point is that I didn't chose a DP because I had to settle for a DP. I chose a DP because I think it's superior to the acoustic in almost every aspect except sound and feel. Sound and feel is not everything. Practicality can trump sound and feel easily, as proven by the higher sales of DPs compared to acoustics. At least DPs can only get better at sound and feel. But acoustics can NEVER even try to emulate practicality.

Again, the flaw in your argument here is that you're just comparing digital to digital. I'm not here to have a digital to digital debate. My point strictly applies to the digital vs acoustic debate. That's why it's a double standard to keep bringing in a digital vs digital debate into what was a digital vs acoustic debate in the first place.

Even you said so yourself that no one is ever really 100% happy with a piano even from day one, regardless of whether it's a digital or an acoustic. I never disagree with this. But the point implied by what was said earlier about obsolescence regarding digital vs acoustic is that you'll never be happy with a digital because it'll go obsolete too soon. But nothing was said that you'll never be happy with an acoustic as well because it will also go obsolete as well. By not saying the same about the acoustic, the misleading implication is derived that acoustic don't go obsolete, or not as quickly. I'd say acoustic is already obsolete in light of how digitals have been outselling acoustic 2 to 1 if not even more in the last decade.

Show me a thread here on PW where people want to get rid of their DP and can't and may even have to pay a fee to get rid of them like you alluded to.

I can already show you at least 2 or 3 threads very recently on PW in the Piano forum where people want to get rid of their acoustics by giving it away for free or leaving it behind when they move but can't even do so. At least DP won't become a huge paper weight LIABILITY to get rid of like acoustics when they're no longer wanted.

I can also show you several YouTube videos of people brutally destroying their acoustics to death because they're no longer wanted.