"Start your piano-buying journey at Artist Pianos. You'll be sure to save yourself time, money, and frustration and get a great piano in the end."

I was excited when I saw an advertisement posted for a "free" piano that a couple was offering. They said their daughter used it for music practice years ago and they were willing to give it away as long as it went to a "good home." I didn't want to be stuck with a lemon, so I hired a piano technician for $85 to inspect the "free" piano and he told me the piano would be okay for my children's needs. I felt like I had won the lottery! I paid a piano moving service $300 to bring the piano to my home. Then the technician got another $150 to tune the piano for me.

The technician mentioned he "wouldn't be able to tune it too high" due to the piano having the original strings. Not having a grasp of technical piano terms I had no idea what this meant. Then, one day when I was trying to teach my kids a new song along with a YouTube video, I realized that my piano sounded horribly out of tune compared to the one in the video. It turns out my "free" piano was in tune with itself, but not the rest of the world.

 

I learned that not being able to "tune it too high" meant the piano had no hope of ever being tuned to concert pitch. As a result, my children would not learn to recognize correct pitch if they continued to practice on this piano! My "free" piano was quickly becoming an albatross. It turns out the piano technician I hired to work on my behalf just couldn't bring himself to report that the "free" piano wasn't worth anything. He told me it would be $1500 to restring the piano.

At this point, I spent some time doing research I had hoped to avoid by hiring an expert to inspect the piano in the first place. My "free" piano was over 100 years old, had a cracked soundboard, and loose action parts. It was worth every penny I paid for it, and not a penny more. Sinking $1500 into restringing wouldn't have fixed any of the other serious problems my "free" piano had. Now I was looking at another $300 to have my "free" piano removed from my house, bringing my total bill to $835.

I took my "free" piano sob story to Paul at Artist Pianos. This wasn't Paul's first time hearing about an expensive "free" piano. Paul worked with me to find an excellent piano suitable for my children to practice on while respecting my budget constraints. We now have a new, high-quality, attractive, Steinway-designed Essex upright in place of the old "free" piano. My children are excited to play it and their practice is much more effective because the new piano plays so well and does not have the problems the “free piano” had.

Learn from my mistake & start your piano-buying journey at Artist Pianos. You'll be sure to save yourself time, money, and frustration and get a great piano in the end.