Buying a Used Piano

Written by Nickel - 10 Comments

About two weeks ago, I returned from a trip out of town only to learn that my wife had bought a used piano for $200. As it turns out, our kids’ school was having a fundraiser, and they were selling their old piano in a silent auction. While we’ve toyed with the idea of buying a decent used piano in the past, the idea fallen off our radar over the past few months… Or so I thought.

What concerned me the most upon hearing about the purchase was that buying a good used piano isn’t all that easy. In fact, entire books have been written on the process. So when I learned that my wife had purchased one on a whim, I was expecting the worst — especially given the $200 price point.

Anyway, what’s done is done, so she arranged to have a piano mover pick it up and transport it to our house. When I got home, I was heartened to see that it actually looked quite nice. It’s an older Baldwin, and the finish is a good match to the woodwork elsewhere in our house. It’s definitely used, but in a nicely aged sort of way. There were apparently some paint spatters, etc. on it when it arrived, but those came off easily, and it cleaned up very well.

As for functionality, there were a few keys that were sticking, but the boys were able to start playing it straightaway. Now that we’ve had it tuned/reapired, it works beautifully. The sound is great (at least to my non-musical ears) and the keys that were sticking are no longer a problem.

How much did we pay (total) for our “new” piano?

  • Piano: $200
  • Moving: $200
  • Tuning/Repair: $110

So… For a grand total of $510, we got ourselves a nice piano that our boys will be able to play for years to come. On top of that, we’ve been told by several people (including their piano teacher, the piano mover, and the tuner) that we could easily sell turn around and sell it for at least $1500. Not too shabby.

Published on October 20th, 2008 - 10 Comments
Filed under: Frugality
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

  1. It’s also a better price than an electronic keyboard with properly weighted keys, which I think start at around $500 or so new.

    Comment by Rob Carlson — Oct 20th 2008 @ 12:31 pm

  2. Excellent point, Rob. We actually have a nice electronic keyboard which works great, but we also have three kids in piano lessons (won’t be long before it’s four) so being able to have two practice at once has been great. Also, the real piano is much more attractive than the keyboard, and thus more suitable for our living room.

    Comment by nickel — Oct 20th 2008 @ 12:35 pm

  3. Wow that’s awesome. I’d kill to get a used piano for that price. We don’t have anywhere to put it, but it would still be better than our relatively cheap Yamaha electronic piece of junk that probably cost about $200 back when we bought it.

    Comment by Jeremy — Oct 20th 2008 @ 1:33 pm

  4. Though it is hard to argue with that rather small bill to tune and repair that piano, if you are looking for some hardcore frugal savings or entertainment, you can tinker with tuning it yourself. Here’s some info– http://piano.detwiler.us .

    Comment by geo — Oct 20th 2008 @ 2:30 pm

  5. Sounds like the beginnings of a flipper’s market. Sell the piano, buy 3 more. Fix them up, repeat, and profit! You might as well even keep a few for yourself and your kids. I always wanted to have a summer piano in the Adirondacks and a winter piano in South Carolina.

    Comment by Flexo — Oct 20th 2008 @ 3:31 pm

  6. Just don’t forget to pay your capital gains taxes when you sell for a profit :-)

    Comment by Rick — Oct 20th 2008 @ 5:13 pm

  7. stupid question. I have an old piano that i want to sell. where can we “that we could easily turn around and sell it for at least $1500. Not too shabby.”

    Comment by draleaf — Oct 20th 2008 @ 5:45 pm

  8. draleaf: It totally depends on the condition. However, I’d start with listing it in the newspaper or craigslist.

    Comment by nickel — Oct 20th 2008 @ 9:06 pm

  9. I bought myself a second hand piano a few years ago and it’s just brilliant. Many hours worth of playing for just a few outlays of manuscript. And it’s great for entertaining when you have visitors (for a while at least).

    Comment by Andy @ Retire at 40 — Oct 21st 2008 @ 7:10 am

  10. As a music teacher, I wanted to congratulate you on your purchase! Just having a piano in the house will do great things for your kids. I love those old Baldwins, too, and they only get better with age.

    The tricky part, at least around here, is finding a good tuner and repair person!

    Comment by NWDirector — Oct 25th 2008 @ 6:57 am

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