So you’ve decided to buy a used piano and you don’t want to bring a technician long with you. Well, you can still get yourself a good piano if you are careful. In this series I’ll give you items to watch for to narrow down the pitfalls. But first some background:
Brief History
A hundred years ago there were hundreds of piano makers, almost as many as there were good furniture makes. Why? Because for those that could afford them pianos were the entertainment center for the home and buying a new, modest upright model took as much out of the family income as buying a brand new Yamaha 7′ grand ($30,000) would today. In other words it took almost a half-years’ household income.
The years between 1900 to 1930 are thought to be the golden age of pianos. As it was just before radio became popular thousands of makers turned out millions of pianos during this time. Many of the upright grands you see for sale today are from this era. And despite what I warned you about in the previous post the quality and workmanship was wonderful on these instruments and you can still find many in good enough shape to buy.
Brands on the Block from 1900-1930
I have compiled a list of the pianos form the 1900-1930’s but there are far more brands than these. However, many piano restorers look at these makes as ones that are the mainstream:
- Steinway
- Mason & Hamlin
- Chickering
- Bosendorfer
- Sohmer
- Henry F. Miller
- Steinert
- Hume
- Vose
- Apollo
- Packard
- Wing
- Krakauer
- Lester
- Hamilton
- Ibach
- Baldwin
- Knabe
- Bechstein
- Bluthner
- Ivers & Pond
- McPhail
- Jewett
- Emerson
- Chas. Stieff
- A.B. Chase
- Weber
- Haines Bros.
- Hallet & Davis
- Everett
- Kimball
- Gerhard Heintzman
- Mason & Rich
- Lesage
- (And the list goes on!)
Next: What to look for in a used piano.
Stumble it!