quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
.... And the action is still smooth as glass.

That's what I love about my Yamaha as well. An excellent piano for learning on because it is so even and predictable.

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Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Mary Anna,, Oh my goodness! How could I forget, I do remember that you have a Yamaha and that it is really big!! I wonder how big the Yamaha I really like is. It’s in a church near here, I love that piano but I’m sure that model is way too big for my room.

My sister has a Yamaha grand in the mid-five-foot range, and I think she's been happy with it. She bought it in Columbia from a different dealer, not the one that had the amazing Steinway. I'll try to get those dealers' names.

I like working on most Yamaha grands - just watch out if you decide to look at some smaller ones. There are some that have a very nasal tone in the break just above the bass strings and go wildly out of tune seasonally unless tamed with a dampp-chaser with bottom and string covers. (I'm thinking some of the G series)

Be very suspicious of any seller that tells you they can voice the piano to your liking if you find the tone not to your liking... Better to find a tone you really like! (I know you went through this finding your upright)

I tune a handful of Petrof grands and just love them - maybe I just got lucky with the ones I see, because I often read of other techs being unimpressed with Petrofs.

quote:

just watch out if you decide to look at some smaller ones. There are some that have a very nasal tone in the break just above the bass strings and go wildly out of tune seasonally unless tamed with a dampp-chaser with bottom and string covers. (I'm thinking some of the G series)

Ron, thanks for these comments! That's really good to know. One of the things I really want is a reliable instrument, so if the smaller grands may be more likely to go in and out of tune, that's something to keep in mind!

Over the course of my life, I have bought many pianos from craigslist (or pre-internet, the classifieds) and for each of those, I answered and went to look at probably 25 pianos for each one I ended up buying. If you can get past the weirdness of having to go to some random person's house (and I took someone with me, of course, but also operated under the assumption that potential serial killers would not likely choose grand pianos as the bait with which to lure their victims, LOL!), you can pretty quickly get a sense of how well the piano was maintained both from meeting the owner and playing the piano. Then for the ones that you think might be "the one" you get a tech in for a second opinion. I have found that every person I met was more than willing to allow a tech in, and I have never had any issues with coordinating delivery etc. So I would not fear Craigslist or the private seller market in general....you can definitely get a better deal and I like the idea of seeing my piano's former home and caretaker. I met some amazing people during my piano search -- it was a really fun adventure.

Sk, I found my M&H Model A at a dealer in Raleigh, Ruggero Piano, actually from Richard Ruggero. Apple and I were looking at the same time. She got an Estonia and I almost did, too. Gosh, what memories just flooded back with that thought! You mentioned that Raleigh seemed a long way from you, but I lived in Charlotte at the time and it was well worth the trip. They delivered to my house and Richard Ruggero personally came to Charlotte and set it up for me and then came back later for a follow-up tuning. After that the piano was maintained by James Baker, RPT, in Charlotte until we moved to Virginia. I can highly recommend both. James Baker and Ruggero are very involved with the music communities in the two cities, which was important to me. They work with the professional groups to tune and prep pianos for visiting performers. Ruggero was just great fun to visit, too. They have refurbished pianos, consignment pianos, all the way to new concert Boesendorfers and everything in-between, probably financing, too.

Lisa, Nanna, thanks for your comments!

Lisa, I probably need to get over my wariness of Craigslist! I have been checking there, so I may start going to check some instruments out.

Nanna, I will keep those names in mind (Ruggero's website certainly looks very nice!) Unfortunately, Raleigh is a pretty long drive from me (something like 5-ish hours one way) so I'm hoping to find good options closer to home.

This thread has turned out to be about much more than just university piano sale, thank you everyone who's chiming in! And please continue to share more if you have ideas etc.