Piano Video Lesson: The myth of the $1,000 piano

Hi. I'm Robert Estrin here at livingpianos.com and virtualsheetmusic.com. Today's subject is the "Myth of the $1,000 Piano." How could this be? You see them all the time. We're going to cover this today and see is it really a myth or are there a $1,000 pianos out there.

Well, here's the analogy for you. If you've ever looked on Craigslist or other online sources for a car, you can find lots of car for a $1,000 or less. That's right. They're out there. But anybody who's buying a car, even less than $3,000, knows that you're going to have to put some work into it in order to make it operate and function safely. Maybe it needs tires, maybe there's something more serious wrong with it. Well, the same thing is true of pianos.

Now, there are some under a $1,000 pianos or piano-like instruments. There are keyboards, for example, that call themselves pianos and for certain purposes they could be functional. And, yes, there are some decent digitals starting at about the $800 mark.

Now, the other place where you can sometimes, if you search out enough for them, look on your local Craigslist, there are a lot of uprights that are incredibly cheap. And if you don't mind the old-fashioned furniture styles that were popular years ago, sometimes you could find a piano that's sat in a house for a long time, maybe you could pick it up for $300 or $400, put another few $100 in regulating, pitch raise, tuning, action lubrication, voicing, and you could have a perfectly good piano for less than a $1,000, if you're willing to do the work and have the resources.

What you will not find, however, is a high quality instrument that's suitable for an advanced player. At that price point, it's pretty much impossible. The idea that there's somebody who has some Steinway Grand that they don't know what they have, that is where the real myth is. Even under $5,000, to find a high quality piano, takes a lot of work, and almost always requires some additional work to put it on a high level.

So it depends on what your purposes are. If it's just to have a keyboard to practice on or maybe an upright, you don't mind doing some leg work, there are some under a $1,000 pianos. But set your sights realistically, and I think you'll do fine. Thanks for joining me. Robert Estrin here at livingpianos.com and virtualsheetmusic.com.

Automatic video-to-text transcription by DaDaScribe.com

Thank you for your comment, question or request!

Comment/Question deleted successfully.

Post a comment, question or special request:

Comments or questions must be between 3 and 10,000 characters long.

You may: Login  or  

Otherwise, fill out the form below to post your comment:

Add your name below:


Add your email below: (to receive replies, will not be displayed or shared)


For verification purposes, please enter the word MUSIC in the field below

---