Have you always had it sitting in front of the fireplace there? Do you use that fireplace?

(Me, looking at FB Marketplace...)

Ummmmm....lots of people have non working fireplaces or just plain don't ever use their fireplaces.

Says a person whose piano is right next to a fireplace that we have never and will never use.

(And whose piano is right over a heat vent that we have closed off and stuffed with a towel for good measure! And in front of a window where the curtain is always closed! If I ever sell on facebook, my photos will look like a hot mess!)

Lisa, I would never doubt your care of a piano! But some random person on FB? Well...

BTW I ended up contacting the person -- and asking lots of obnoxious questions!

She was very nice and said they don't use the fireplace. It's a mid 1980s Yamaha, G1 so pretty tiny (5' IIRC). But single owner and it sounds like it's been well-taken care of (she gave me her tuner's contact info etc.) Unfortunately, I'm not available the next few days and they're not available after that, so if they haven't sold it in a few weeks and our schedules mesh, I might go see it. I'm not super enthusiastic, but I've never played a grand that small and I'm curious.

You're better off with a quality upright. A 5' grand is a p.s.o., not a piano.

piqué, why don't you tell me how you really feel?

But seriously, you're very likely right. I'll still probably go and take a look. I've decided I'm going to start trying to go and play as many grands as I can, and this is the first one I've seen that's not a two-hour drive away.

What is DC btw?

Agree with pique. If you are concerned about space, I think you'd be better off with a studio upright. My PSO is just under 6 feet, which is about as small as I would be willing to go. YMMV.

SK, as someone who has owned a 5'3" baby grand for almost 3 decades, I'm going to disagree with the posts above. What it boils down to is your needs. Do you need something for performances? Don't get a baby grand. Do you need something well built and consistent to learn on? A baby grand will suit you better than any upright. The action of a baby grand is the same as a full grand and I have never yet played an upright which action could compare to that of the gravity driven grand action. If you're primarily concerned with tone, a good upright will be better than a small grand (sometimes).

Because I have always had my piano as a learning instrument I have never had a strong desire to trade in for something bigger (and let me tell you... bigger is not synonymous with better. I've played absolutely dreadful large grands). I love my Yamaha, it's a real work horse at 5'3".

quote:

a studio upright

That's what I have right now. Granted, there are many uprights nicer than this one (the one I had in Japan, for example, was a very nice instrument). But the next instrument I buy will be a grand, not an upright.

I haven't done the thing where you spread newspapers (or something) out on the floor to simulate the space taken up by a grand, but I'm pretty sure I can easily go bigger than 5', just not sure I can get a more medium-sized grand in here. I don't really know though, it depends on the angle of the piano, for example, if I set it up so that the tail comes out into the room.... Well if I want to totally fill up the room with piano... But I don't think I want to do that. For one thing the acoustics would be too hard to control.

Bernard, what kind of piano do you have?

Re my purposes... I do hope to have music parties, but they will be small(ish), and if the piano is too big, I won't be able to fit any guests in the room, and that's not much of a party, is it!

Piano stores also have stencils to help you figure out what size will fit in your room. Remember to allow ample room to get your bench in and be able to easily sit there. Given your desire for parties, figure a duet-sized bench, plus perhaps some room on one side for an additional chair and music stand for a soloist.

I think you may be surprised at what you can fit in your room.

Agree in part with Bernard--a carpy large grand is carpy, size has nothing to do with it. But I was never able to find a baby grand that I liked.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Bernard, what kind of piano do you have?

Re my purposes... I do hope to have music parties, but they will be small(ish), and if the piano is too big, I won't be able to fit any guests in the room, and that's not much of a party, is it!

It's a Yamaha G1R, 5'3". My music room is not too big either so it's a perfect fit--almost too big (space wise)!

I would not automatically discount small grands. Yeah there's some really bad ones, but you might just find a gem. You'll know as soon as you play it.

Nina,

quote:

Piano stores also have stencils to help you figure out what size will fit in your room.

Piano stores are all a 2+ hour drive away
I do plan to visit one sometime in the next few weeks though, so I will be sure to ask when I'm there.

quote:

Remember to allow ample room to get your bench in and be able to easily sit there. Given your desire for parties, figure a duet-sized bench, plus perhaps some room on one side for an additional chair and music stand for a soloist.

This is the thing that's kind of hard to figure out, and since I've been playing with a violinist a lot lately, it's something I have on my radar.

Bernard, thanks, I wonder what the R stands for. The piano I mentioned above is a G1, which I thought was 5' but maybe it's actually 5'3" and maybe it's a similar model to yours, if I manage to go play it, I'll take my tape measure and let you know!

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Re my purposes... I do hope to have music parties, but they will be small(ish), and if the piano is too big, I won't be able to fit any guests in the room, and that's not much of a party, is it!

I sort of have that problem now. Parties here spill over into an adjoining dining room (where the food is) and an adjoining sun room (where the comfy seating is). It works well enough, but never do I miss my Brooklyn place so much as during a piano party.

BTW

quote:

I would not automatically discount small grands.

That's my plan. Basically, I first want to just get in the habit of going out and playing the instruments that pop up and are within driving distance.

Actually, as I type that, I guess I need some more criteria... Price is one, I'm not going to go look at something that's obviously out of my price range, nor will I go to look at something that's free and clearly not worth more than that.

Age is another, although this one is harder to make a hard and fast rule about, but I don't think I'll look at anything that's very old.

Make -- I'm not set on a particular make/model, but I will probably only follow up on pianos with a name I recognize. I will also probably avoid Steinway just because everyone I see is overpriced (or way too old, or both).

Color - anything as long as it's brown or black

Appearance - I'm not super concerned about a particular style, but rather, the photos should show a reasonably clean instrument that hopefully suggests it's been well-cared for.

Size - I'm not going to go look at anything smaller than 5' and I'm probably not going to consider any small pianos unless they're Yamaha or Kawaii or another really well-known, well-regarded maker.... Maybe, not sure about that. Also I probably need to pick an upper limit obviously a concert grand won't fit, but I do need to figure out what the max size that would fit.

Which brings me back to Nina's stencil suggestion.

What other criteria might I add? Remember, this is just in terms of deciding whether or not to physically go and look at an instrument. (Once I get to the stage of seriously considering an instrument, there are a lot of other things I'll check, and I will get a tech to evaluate before making any final decisions.)