Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum How to look at an older, used piano

So I am going to go look at a privately sold Kawai RX1 sometime this weekend. According to the seller, it was made in 1997 and was "last tuned about 5 years ago after we moved to current house and waited it to be settled." My impression is that they were the first owners, but I will verify this when I look at it.

So here is my first question: How do I look at this piano? I know very little about piano anatomy, so if anyone could point me to some sort of illustrated resource, that would be great. I plan to have a technician look at it if I like it, but of course I don't want to pay to have someone come out if there are obvious defects.

My second question: This piano obviously hasn't been tuned for a long time, and it's possible that it was only tuned sporadically before that. They claim to have a daughter who no longer plays, so maybe it was well maintained for a while and just hasn't been played or tuned recently, but it's anyone's guess. So firstly, how will this past affect the future of the piano, and secondly, how can I (a poor player myself) properly evaluate a piano that is probably not its best?

Thanks for any help! I'm looking forward to having a piano, but I'm finding shopping stressful and confusing.

The simplest test is to play it. Even as a poor player you'll get a sense of the tone and timbre, even if you just play single notes and listen to them decay.

If it plays or sounds like crap to YOU then say thank you and leave. Don't think about "Well what if it is tuned" or whatever. If the sound and feel appeals to YOU *then* get a tech. Basically a good-sounding and playing piano may have problems lurking but a piano that plays or sounds like crap is probably not worth bothering with, ESPECIALLY private sale where you will get no dealer support.

As far as not being tuned / neglected - if you do buy it it will probably need to be tuned 4 times or so in the first year just to acclimate. As long as the piano has sat in a climate-controlled environment it's probably fine.

And yes, shopping for pianos can be vomit-inducingly stressful.

Larry Fine's The Piano Book would be an excellent resource for you. It goes into some detail on what to look for when examining a used piano. I believe you can still purchase a copy, or maybe it is at your local library.

The RX series are nice pianos, it is worth looking into.

I don't think an extremely out of tune piano can be evaluated for tonal quality (except perhaps by a professional technician). This is a big problem when shopping for poorly maintained piano whether at dealers or at private sales.

I don't mind tuning it more frequently for the first year or so. My understanding is that I would have to do that even if I buy a brand new piano, and I'm hoping that by buying used I will be able to get a better piano within my budget. Is it true that the plastic action parts in the Kawai pianos give them better tuning stability? Can I count on this to make the piano a relatively safe bet, or not?

The "plastic" parts in the action do not make the tuning more stable, but they do make for more stable action regulation.

That's probably true. But here's the thing. If the seller really gave a [censored] about selling the piano they would at least have it tuned. If they're too cheap to spend 100 bucks to help along what's likely a multi-thousand dollar sale then you probably don't want to do business with them anyway. It smells.

If you show up to buy a piano and it sounds terrible or feels terrible and you are not a sophisticated buyer - walk away. There's a million RX-1 class piano for sale. If the seller tries to protest then tell the seller to get the piano tuned up on *his* dime and maybe you'll come back.

Jawhitti, you might be right. I have to say, though, that my impression is that the seller doesn't play the piano himself and has no idea that 5 years is a long time to go without tuning. Is ignorance on his part a huge warning sign, or an opportunity for me to get a decent piano at a good price?

Anyway, I am also hoping to look at another RX1 from 2001 that they claim has been well maintained, but is on its second owner. I will pay more for the better piano if I like that one better, but of course I want to explore all my options. I can wait a couple of months to see if anything else comes available, but I don't live in a huge market (Calgary, Canada) and I do want to get something fairly soon.

I appreciate any help or advice I can get!

Well risk/reward my friend. If you're a relative n00b (as I was when I started shopping) then you should probably expect to spend a few months playing pianos at different dealerships, scouring pianobuyer.com and learning about the piano market in general. Over time two things will happen: 1) You will discover what you like in a piano - a bright sound? a soft, delicate sound? Action? etc. 2) You will get a feel for how the market works. This takes months. However if you're willing to invest the time to do so you'll be in a far better position to locate a piano that you love and negotiate a price.

It's worse than buying cars, in my opinion. The market for pianos is even less liquid, and the condition of used pianos is all over the map. And on top of it a piano, as a tool for artistic expression is a more personal purchase than a car. I too felt like I was going to throw up while shopping for mine last summer. Just be patient. The market for pianos is in the doldrums right now so if you have the cash you can negotiate a heck of a deal once you find one you love.

If they say it hasn't been tuned in "about 5 years" double that. That is generally more accurate.

Should you buy it, as is, YOU are likely in for two tunings. One now, to raise it up to pitch and tune it and another in a couple of months to tune it again for stability because it will change with a major pitch raise.

You may also likely be in for some mechanical work as well. If the tuning was neglected, so was everything else.....

There is only one way to know for sure and that is to call in a tech to look at it. Now, the owner will be there and, the owner will probably ask the tech for as much information as possible. I always refuse to give the owner any information. But, I get asked by the owner almost every single time I'm hired to appraise a piano for the buyer. The owner didn't hire me to look at the piano for them, YOU DID. Owners can be very sneaky that way. I'm not one that allows that. I look it over, keep silent, thank them for their time and if they ask me any questions I defer it back to the buyer saying, sorry, the buyer is paying me for my time, my assessment goes to them and only to them. I smile and walk out.

Some owners get pretty persnickety with this. They think they are deserving of a free appraisal from the technician. This happens frequently.

It would be advisable for you to also be there when we are there looking at the piano. That will help to ensure that the owners ask the tech less questions. It also allows the technician to point things out to you, as we see them while the piano is apart.

I don't know, when we bought our car that was pretty stressful too. On the other hand, we got a great car for much less than it would have been new. In other words, we got a much better car than we could have if we had bought new. I was hoping the same would apply to pianos, but you're probably right that it is a bit more complicated than that. But maybe, if we change our mind in ten or fifteen years, we can then sell it and upgrade without taking the biggest depreciation hit.

Thanks, Jerry, for that input. I would certainly want to get it appraised. My original question was only: what can I look at, myself, to avoid wasting my money and a technician's time looking at a piano that is obviously not worth any further consideration? Once it passes that test, I would hire a technician. If it passes that inspection, I would be willing to spend a little more in the first year or so to bring the tuning back to where it should be.

Can a good technician give me an idea of where the price should be? If it did need some work, I would expect that to translate into a lower selling price. Would it?

Look at the strings. Are they discolored? Are any missing? Look at the bridges. See if there are any hair line cracks or splits. Crawl underneath the piano with a GOOD flashlight. Check the sound board for hair line splits, cracks or other major damage.

While you're looking at the strings, look for ANY signs at all of water damage. People just LOOOOOVE to place flowers and things that need watering on top of their piano and these things do fall over and these things do get over filled leaking, somewhere. Did any of the hammers POP from water leaking onto them? It is possible and it does happen every now and then which also means strings will be rusty and other problems will be evident.

Take that good flashlight and look at the hammers for wear. How flat are the hammers. There are enough websites out there that show what a good hammer should look like that you can see the difference. People may say that the piano has had very little use but, don't believe what you are told. People try to fool me all the time by telling me that I've always had my piano tuned. Twice a year!!! I arrive to find that they've tuned it twice, in 10 years.... Guess they think we can all be fooled because they can.

Even if the hammers need filing and they more than likely do after 14 years or so, so what? That's considered normal wear and tear. On an instrument that is likely, if it is worth it, to last you another 35 years or more, that's a drop in the bucket and no pianos cannot be compared to cars.

Cars last 8 years if we're lucky. I drive 25-30,000 miles a year. If I buy a used car with 87,000 miles on it, I'll be lucky to get 100,000 out of it without spending a fortune replacing transmissions and lots of other things like struts and lots more. I know because I've done it many times. So, 5 years later if I'm lucky, I'm spending another $7,000 or more on another car on top of the thousands that I've spend during the time I owned it. It's a far cry from owning a piano and the cost difference is no comparison at all.

Yes, a good technician can tell you what the value of the piano is "as is." I always look at what it needs now, regardless of what that need is. I deduct that need, off from the value of the piano.

I'm just picking a figure here it's not a real figure... Let's say, the piano asking price is $15,000. Owners either ask to little or they often ask to much because they haven't a clue. Let's say, in today's market the actual value, of that piano is $12,000 not $15,000. That's where I start with my figures. Let's see, it needs, this, that, cleaning, tuning, regulation, filing hammers etc, deduct that off from the as is value of the piano which is probably less than that, i don't know... I'm just tossing figures out there.

So, you've already gained the knowledge of knowing that the piano was not really worth the asking price to begin with.

You've walked away with the knowledge of just exactly what the piano is going to require work wise and how much that is going to cost you

You walked away knowing the exact cost of the piano, the work and what the value is before and after the work is done and if, that particular piano is worth it. Not saying it's not..... Don't read between the lines. Just saying, you'll know.

Without the tech, you don't know squat and it's like asking questions here. Nobody from here can give you a reliable answer from a computer screen as to what this piano is really worth, what the price might be, it could be worth more than what they're asking for it but, a good technician will keep their trap shut about that in front of the owner. It could require nothing but a couple of good tunings. Who knows without seeing it? I don't...

Jerry has given you good advice. Both as to how you can do an initial inspection, and then how to proceed with an inspection and evaluation by a professional.

You have a big advantage as you are looking at a piano which was built as a quality instrument, and not just as a cheap entry level piano. Even better, you have two identical pianos, of the relatively same vintage, to do a comparison and select the better of the two. With judicious mention, that is to your advantage in negotiations.

Good luck with your auditions and let us know how your search is progressing.

Thanks for those insights. And of course, I don't think pianos and cars are really the same, just that they're both a) stressful to shop for and b) experience the most depreciation when they are new. My goal is to get the best piano possible with the money I have, and of course to avoid getting something that will be a money pit.

Does anybody want to recommend a good piano technician in Calgary? I have looked at the PTG website but I have to narrow it down somehow.

I have come across many pianos which have had only 1 or 2 years of light playing on them, even though they were 15 or 20 years old. This can often be a good thing - to use the car analogy, it is buying a low mileage vehicle. Sure, it needs a pitch raise, tuning, a good cleaning, maybe some lubrication, etc. But that is a far cry from a 10 year old piano that has been heavily used and tuned regularly - the hammers need re-shaping and voicing, the key bushings are almost worn out , the damper wires are loose in their guide rail bushings, etc, etc. A piano technician will be able to see how much wear is on the parts.

The older but almost-unused piano will probably be available for less, too - people have been staring at it, sitting there in silence for too many years, now they are happy to pass it on.

And don't worry - four tunings in a year to account for acclimatizing is absolute nonsense.

Heh, I never thought of this, but I can see how that would be quite annoying for you to deal with, and quite annoying for the buyer to hire someone who perhaps isn't as scrupulous about keeping quiet on evaluation!

Is four tunings in a year nonsense? I assumed that a piano that hasn't been regularly tuned might need more for the first year or so.

Does anyone want to chime in with what they think might be a fair price for an RX1 of this age?

Four tunings a year is expected the first year. Not nonsense at all.

RE price: The RX1BLK has a SMP in the fall '12 guide of about 26k. Depreciation on a 15 year-old model in average conditions suggests a "by the book" price in the ballpark of about 12,500. Deduct something from this price as it is a private seller (no warranty, not dealer support, no delivery) and you get to something like $10,000. Searching Google for "1997 kawai RX-1 for sale" produces asking prices in that range.

If the piano is in good shape and you can talk the guy below 10k I'd say you done good.

Concertina,

Keep in mind that the 2001 RX-1 will not have the same amount of depreciation applied for a quick calculation.

Since I don't know the Canadian market, I can't be definitive. As has been mentioned in your other thread, there is no way to evaluate any piano without seeing and examining a particular piano to give an accurate price. Prices on Craigslist are nothing more the "hopes" of the sellers. When your chosen piano is inspected by a tech, you will have additional information for bargaining.

Were I going to see either of these instruments, in the States, I would have a ballpark figure of ~$12K in my mind. Then it is up to the skill as a negotiator to reach a satisfactory amount for both parties.

Good Luck,