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Thoughts and experiences would be appreciated... I own a grand piano that I use regularly at my home. I recently purchased an upright so that I (and others) could use it at a family home--realistically only a few months a year. However, now that it is time to move it from dealer, I find myself wondering whether to spend money to move it cross country now or later. In other words, do I move it to family home now or move it to my house now? Anybody have experiences with 2 pianos or with underused pianos? Thanks.

I don't have experience with owning two homes, or two pianos. But I have quite a bit of experience at transportation logistics. Moving it twice will cost a lot more money than moving it once, and it also increases the risk of damage. I would recommend moving it as few times as possible.

Very good point on transportation cost and risk. Just to be clear--used second piano and not my second home! kind of embarrassed with how it reads.

Really overcomplicating the "move" thing. Uprights move easily. Unless it is an upstairs or downstairs move, it's Uhaul time, and they don't cost that much to rent. I don't think it cost effective to move an upright across the country because the cost of the move might exceed the value of the upright. How many miles is it actually being moved?

I grew up with two pianos in the house, the grand in the living room, the upright in my bedroom. There was never an issue of them both being used a decent amount.

Well, I don't know if this helps or not ( I hope it does) but I have three decent pianos in my home; two in my music room (a grand and a studio upright) and another upright in another room. Neither goes unplayed or unappreciated for any period of time. I always gravitate toward the grand, but I do play the uprights weekly.

If I had more room (and more money) I'd have a piano in every room! Not that I can play all that well, but I happen to like acoustic pianos (and I enjoy learning to play).

Good luck, what ever you decide.

Rick

I hope I'm understanding your post correctly. If you're buying the piano for the purposes of having a piano at the family home, then I'm guessing this home has times where no one is living in it? If that's the case, you may need to take some extra precautions about the conditions of the home when it is vacant (like temperature and humidity regulation).

Funny you say that cause I still have my Hamilton Baldwin oldie upright on the other living room and yes, I spent most of the time on the Grand but I cant resist just sitting on the upright and playing a little, mainly the recital pieces for a change.
Totally different experience and it helps me get used to playing on a different piano so that I can adjust when recital time comes up and having to face a totally different piano there.

I would say leave the two at your one house and if you really want another one at the second home then buy a third piano. That takes care of that. I have two concert grands in two different rooms. One is an SD-6 Baldwin and the other is an 1871 restored Steinweg. People that visit get a kick out of new vs old/ European vs American etc.

Two in one home doesn't qualify for hoarding, at least not yet anyway

I have two homes...one with a grand and a digital, and the other with a cheapie keyboard. When I'm in the second home, I really, really miss having a decent piano. I'm leaning toward moving your upright to the family home, so you can enjoy a real piano when you're there.

A house is not a home without at least two pianos in it. (A drum kit, a good bass amp, and a B3 will help to warm the place up)

Having two pianos in the house is nice. You have two different experiences and if there's more than one pianist in the house it avoids arguments. In our household we have two large grands (an S&S B and a Shigeru SK7) far enough apart that you can just here the other one while you're playing, but not loud enough to annoy. It's a nice feeling (though not sure how the non-pianists feel :-) ) A Roland digital at the cabin rounds out the assortment when we're at the lake during summer (there we have to fight over it).

I must say that my experience of having two pianos seems not to be in line with the general view. I bought a Sauter a couple of years ago and neglected to dispose of my Schimmel. They stare balefully at one another from opposite walls. I fondly imagined that I might like to play both instruments, revelling in the subtle differences in tone and action between the two. What actually happens is that I play the Sauter all the time and the poor old Schimmel gathers dust.

If I understand you correctly, the upright piano is for your "family home", not your home.

What I don't know: Is your family home unoccupied most of the time, or is it just you who are not there most of the time?
If it's the latter, I'd say: Send the upright to your family home.
If it's the former, then it depends on how the climatic conditions are. An unoccupied house can have huge variations in temperature and humidity (since it's not heated and the windows are closed); acoustic pianos might suffer from it and go out of tune quickly. In that case, a digital piano might be the more obvious choice.

Thanks all. I've decided to not move upright. Temperature at family home is now 30F with light snow, last week it was 55F. Given that it wouldn't be played much when I'm not there, I don't want to ruin a good piano. Thanks again--as always this forum is helpful.

By the way, I'm fearing Jean-Claude's post about lack of play. Bottom line--don't get sucked in to buying another piano with plans to put a piano everywhere!!