July 10, 2009
Joe Townend

If you would like to buy a new piano from a retail piano store it will save you time and money to have the piano tuned by me at the store before you commit to buying it. Piano stores have their in-house tuners go over the piano quickly but they will not tell you about any problems that exist.

The reason for this is that in the process of tuning, all aspects of the piano are tested. The firmness of the pins as they are set in the pinblock is checked. If the pins are loose or mushy the instrument will not hold a tuning very well.

Also this provides an opportunity to inspect the other parts of the piano, including the external finish, the health of the soundboard, pedals and piano action.

If you're thinking of buying a piano from a private party through a classified ad it's even more critical to know what shape the instrument is in before spending the money to purchase and then move the piano.

An analogy would be when you're buying a used car. It's smart to engage a mechanic to check the vehicle first as the seller might not be forthcoming about the car's problems.