🎹Upright Piano Buyer's Guide for 2021 | How to Choose an Upright Piano🎹

#UprightPiano #BuyersGuide #2021

Greetings and welcome to another piano video at the Merriam Pianos YouTube channel. In today’s video, we’re going to help guide you through the process of searching for and selecting an upright piano.

Rather than just toss around some general considerations, we’re putting our suggestions in a very specific order of importance that if followed, will ensure you end up with an instrument that you’ll be thrilled with.

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Consideration #1: Piano Size

We’re not starting with budget or country of origin, but rather, size. The size of an upright piano directly determines its volume and clarity of the bass register.

If an upright isn’t loud enough for your needs or lacks the bass response you’re after, nothing else will really matter.

Uprights generally start around 42” in height and go up to approx 53” in height, and while that doesn’t sound like a huge difference, the proportional difference in string length is quite significant.

Things like room size and room acoustics as well as whether or not you’ll be doing any recording are factors that will influence your size needs.

Consideration #2. Piano Tone

After you’ve determined what size you want to work with, the next thing you’ll want to focus on is finding an upright with a tone that excites and inspires you.

Tone preference is so personal and varied, so it’s important you figure out what really resonates with you.

Several things go into why a piano sounds the way it does. Country of origin can be a big one as certain countries tend to be known for certain material selection and production processes, and thus have a specific sound associated with them.

For example, pianos from Germany tend to be very clear.

Consideration #3. Piano Touch

Some folks will argue that touch should actually be number 1, but we’ve put it in third place because as important as a great touch is, it will never make up for a tone you don’t like or lack of bass.

People often refer to piano actions as either feeling light or heavy, when in reality this actually has more to do with a piano’s dynamic response.

Even high end pianos can often feel very different from one another, so make sure you spend some time focusing on this when trying pianos.

Weighting, response, repetition speed and the actual feel of the keys are all important factors here.

Consideration #4: Budget

If you follow the first 3 suggestions in order, you’ll come to a selection of instruments that still has a wide range of prices, so it’s at this point that you can break things down by price.

Of course things will be more refined the higher you go in price, but generally speaking, you will likely still be able to find an upright that checks all the boxes at every price point.

Consideration #5. Piano Resale

This is less important when shopping for a grand piano, but has a huge potential impact when shopping for an upright.

Upright pianos have a much higher rate of resale in the piano industry, and because upright pianos are not purchased solely as furniture as often as grand pianos, brand recognition and model acclaim is crucial for getting as much money as possible for an upright on the resale market.

If you think there’s a decent chance you’ll be selling or upgrading your upright in the next 5 to 10 years, you should definitely consider potential resale.

Piano Recommendations:

Here are some of our favourite upright pianos currently available:

Pearl River 118 and 121
Ritmuller UH Models
Kawai ND21, K300, K500
Yamaha U1, U3
W. Hoffmann T122
Wilhelm Schimmel W118
C. Bechstein A124
C. Bechstein Concert 8
Bosendorfer 130
Schimmel Concert Series

0:00 - Intro
1:24 - Opening Playing Sample
1:45 - Video Overview
2:04 - Piano Size
6:46 - Piano Tone
9:43 - Playing Samples
11:55 - Piano Touch
16:06 - Piano Budget
17:53 - Resale
20:26 - Piano Recommendations

Connect with Merriam Music:

[HS-wpvb]

Wow, hearing the German and the Japanese pianos back-to-back, I would have never guessed the differences to be that stark. Obviously the Kawai and Yamaha are more than half price of the Bechstein, but I can clearly hear why. My absolute favourite was the Bechstein A-124, but I also liked the Seiler.

[Dobermanator]

Stu is very humble. Finding a "quality" Piano Salesperson should have been high on that list because not everyone has a YouTube Video to follow, to remember, and or become lost in space trying to research on their own. We were in a different Category than this video's primary focus in that my daughter was just getting started. The Salesperson at Merriam was so awesome explaining a very similar process as Stu did here, only tailored for a new Student.

[barryroland]

This is the best "how to buy an upright piano" presentation I have ever seen

[gabithemagyar]

Really well presented. This closely mirrors the thought process that I went through last year to buy my upright except that resale value was not an issue for me since I was looking for a "keeper". I must say I am extremely happy with my purchase (Hoffmann T122) so the advice in this video is spot on in my opinion. I really appreciated the professionalism of the Merriam sales representative who, after hearing what I was looking for, steered me to several suitable options at a range of price points from slightly below my stated budget to somewhat above and allowed me to spend quite a bit of time alone trying them out. Exerting absolutely no pressure to go for the most expensive piano in the range, they truly seemed to want to help me pick a piano which fit my musical preferences and budget. Couldn't be happier ! :-)

[jimbroiles]

Purchased a W. Hoffmann T122 today. Your videos were extremely helpful in making this decision. It's not a C8 and it is not exactly inexpensive, but the value for the money is the best we have found. Thank you for all of your work to educate us on upright pianos.

[tobi-]

Your way of giving informations in your videos is great and helped me a lot this year when i was upgrading my kawai ca49 to a fridolin schimmel f121. I am in year 2 of my life with pianos and i enjoy your videos before or after practicing. And whats really great is your way of dealing with different arguments. You are not staight saying buy this oder this, this is bad, this is good. You help people building their own opionion and especially in this times when everbody thinks his opinion ist the only one, it is a pleasure to see this way of presentation

[mickandrews]

Great educational video. Anyone looking to buy an upright would be well advised to start with this video. I cannot agree more about the size aspect and especially the consideration about the room it is to go into. A large upright producing a lot of sound would be overpowering in a small room, say a study, especially if it has little in the way of furnishings (e.g. wooden floor instead of carpet, blinds instead of curtains). Watch the video, take notes then start visiting showrooms, ideally those with a good range of pianos. When visiting showrooms, however, be aware that the acoustics in the showroom can have a huge impact upon your listening experience. You will need to bear this in mind if you then visit other showrooms.

[terryedelman]

This is detailed, methodical, and incredibly helpful. Thank you.

[Frenchie]

Awesome timing, I am currently looking to buy an upright. Thanks!

[yokikokudou]

I believe that rigid key/high resistance key is the best if anyone want their kids to develop proper finger formation as well as develop finger strength & sensitivity (when they're applying what I call "emotional dynamics"). Children who learned basics on soft keys have tendency to do a flat hand instead of the proper curve hand formation which gives more control to the finger in doing either a soft strike or hard strike in the keys; as well as they have tendency to have the pinky points upward (I would refer to as pianist version of exorcist).

Besides a pianist that can play on a rigid piano well enough will excels in a soft key piano, while one who uses a soft keys will never be able to adapt to all different kind of piano.
(According to my piano teacher)

[bhaveshmistry]

Always learn something new after waiting your videos. Specially acoustic pianos reviews. The way you explain it’s very easy to understand for any piano buyers. I am also a piano specialist and I have learnt many good things which I was not so aware. Your reviews help me a lot to sell pianos and I am now super confident to guide or convince any type of customers. Thank you so much for sharing your valuable knowledge and spending time to make a piano reviews. I consider you as my guru ( Teacher ). 🙏 In 2022 I’ll hope to see more brands reviews like Feurich/Sautar/Hailun and many more. ❤️

[xthetansiblingsx]

The sound of schimmel just blown me away. I own an upright grand kawai and budget is very important. We are not coming from a rich family and I paid that myself with my hard savings. Check out the BL-71 edition made directly in Japan. It’s one of the best piano I’ve own yet.

[sensoeirensen]

I bought a Bechstein 116k Millenium in 2020. This small powerhouse outperformed all other pianos in my ears. I tested around 50. The piano choses you.

[pianowhizz]

Funny I owned two of those models last year (a C.Bechstein Academy A124, and a Ritmüller UH). Both are indeed fine instruments. The key weighting on the C.Bechstein was perfectly graded - which you would expect from a handmade piano.

[sylviacantumusicalideas]

Such an amazing & excellent video! Very useful info! Thank you, Stu!

[EdPin_]

Yep, another outline for an exhaustive database that will wrap this up in smartphone-friendly searchable form. The editing game has stepped up, I see 2022 as a year of growth for the visual attractiveness of your materials. Awesome music + well-edited video = dream come true for someone who wants's to sharpen their show-biz skills, both for camera-man and for performer :) Stu, in the new year, I wish to you and to us to get a little piece performed in the best sounding patch (or two) of a given instrument. Describe an instrument with its vibe, as your musical impression of it (as you started lately -> "sound demos"). This should give us a wonderful and entertaining year, can not wait for those weekends :) It seems like everything comes together nicely, wonder who you gonna invite to argue with musically... (playing on 4 hands)?

[AsherMandrake]

I appreciate you sharing your knowledge, You seem very straightforward and clear with a nice depth. I also really like your playing.

[pauldunkling]

You always do an amazing job explaining the intricacies of the subject at hand in your videos. I’m not a piano player but love piano music and the whole subject of pianos from history to modern advances in manufacturing is fascinating. Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us through these high quality presentations!

[mrk]

Important for an upright: Features! Other then grands where recommendable silence or self playing systems are only available at the super high end, most uprights can be equipped with these systems in adequate quality. You should consider them, as they extent the possibilities of the piano a lot without compromising on its quality as a acoustical instrument. If you have a grand, a second upright piano is of repetition or night time practice - then a silence system is paramount - or go for a electric right away.

[georgeservian]

Great tips to consider. When I'm ready to purchase I hope I can find a salesperson that approaches Stu's knowledge and professionalism.