Welcome to our 'Buying a Secondhand Piano' Guide
This free guide has been produced by professional UK piano tuners / technicians with many years' experience and will help you avoid the many pitfalls encountered when searching for and buying a used grand or upright piano.
Our website details the workings of a piano, what to look out for when viewing secondhand pianos and how to easily identify potential problems or defects within an instrument. After all, repairing a piano is certainly a job for a professional tuner/technician, and due to the complexity of these instruments, repairs are more often than not very time-consuming, and therefore quite costly.
We cannot guarantee that the piano you buy will be a good one, and there really is no substitute for having a professional tuner check the piano out for you, but armed with the information within these pages, we believe you will be in a position to make a solid, informed decision.
If we succeed in helping you to find a good used piano that doesn't need expensive repairs and that will last many years, we'd love to hear from you! If you do find our site helpful, please give us the thumbs up on Facebook, or plus1 us on Google. Thankyou...

Buying a Used Piano
Like a car, a piano is essentially a machine, and as the instrument matures in years, things will start to wear out. Although it is quite possible to recondition any piano back to its' best condition, this is a time-consuming and costly process that is normally only carried out on very fine quality instruments.
The only real exception to this would be in the reconditioning of a piano which has sentimental value, where the money spent on the work may well exceed the value of the piano after it has been fully restored.
A decent piano can be found for only a few pounds, on eBay for instance, or you may be lucky enough to find one for free. But to buy a used piano with confidence, thorough visual checks should be made over the whole instrument to ensure you don't end up with a worthless piano that will just keep costing you money to keep it in a playable condition.
So, what exactly do you look for when buying a used piano? ....
Basic Anatomy of a Piano

This diagram of an exploded view of the grand piano illustrates how any piano, grand or upright, (to a large extent), fits together to become arguably the most powerful acoustic musical instrument that man has made.
In the manufacturing process, first the soundboard is fitted into the empty case. The soundboard is a large wooden diaphragm which is forced to vibrate by the strings, therefore increasing their volume.
In front of the soundboard on a grand, or above the soundboard on an upright, is the pinblock, (or wrestplank). This is where the tuning pins will be positioned, and is one of the more mysterious parts of a piano to most, as it is usually hidden, unless the piano is taken entirely apart.
The cast iron frame, (sometimes called a plate, or harp), is then fitted over the top of the soundboard and pinblock, providing a strong and solid platform to accomodate the 220+ high tension strings.
The final piece of the instrument is the complicated mechanism known as the 'Action'. This is the engine of the piano, and acts like an extension to the pianists' fingers, ultimately making contact with the strings via the hammers, thus producing the sound.
In the manufacturing process, first the soundboard is fitted into the empty case. The soundboard is a large wooden diaphragm which is forced to vibrate by the strings, therefore increasing their volume.
In front of the soundboard on a grand, or above the soundboard on an upright, is the pinblock, (or wrestplank). This is where the tuning pins will be positioned, and is one of the more mysterious parts of a piano to most, as it is usually hidden, unless the piano is taken entirely apart.
The cast iron frame, (sometimes called a plate, or harp), is then fitted over the top of the soundboard and pinblock, providing a strong and solid platform to accomodate the 220+ high tension strings.
The final piece of the instrument is the complicated mechanism known as the 'Action'. This is the engine of the piano, and acts like an extension to the pianists' fingers, ultimately making contact with the strings via the hammers, thus producing the sound.
Top Tips
Just because someone may be able to play the piano doesn't necessarily mean they are knowledgeable about buying one.Look at several pianos so that you can get an idea of what your money will buy.
Don't buy a piano just because it's cheap, as you may well only be buying firewood!
Just because someone may be able to play the piano doesn't necessarily mean they are knowledgeable about buying one.Look at several pianos so that you can get an idea of what your money will buy.
Don't buy a piano just because it's cheap, as you may well only be buying firewood!
PIANO GLOSSARY
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Top Tip
Don’t always take it for granted that if a friend or colleague is selling their piano, it is a good instrument.
If the piano turns out to be useless, not only may you be out of pocket but your friendship could be tested too!
Don’t always take it for granted that if a friend or colleague is selling their piano, it is a good instrument.
If the piano turns out to be useless, not only may you be out of pocket but your friendship could be tested too!

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