Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying a Piano

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I'm sorry to say that this book was stretched thin on content and contained too much repeated material. The authors purport to tell you insider secrets from their experience selling pianos, but it's better to get advice from a trusted technician. I recommend The Piano Book by Larry Fine instead.

Whether you know how to play or not, if you've never been through the 'buying a piano' experience, this is a 'must read' even before you read Larry Fine's The Piano Book, which is also a 'must read'.
No buyers remorse from this girl. I LOVE my new piano!

You would think that buying a piano wouldn't be that hard or treacherous. The reality is that people contemplating a piano purchase confront many of the same challenges as buying a new car: a major purchase; a product that involves considerable technical complexities; occasionally unscrupulous and hard-pressure salespeople; and an expectation that one negotiates a final purchase price rather than pay the sticker price. The only difference is that most people buying a car know that these challenges exist, and there is a lot of information out there for car-shoppers to help them navigate their purchases.

Until now, piano shoppers have been largely out of luck. There is one other well-known manual for piano buyers, "The Piano Book" by Larry Fine. But the Fine book has not been revised in some years, is rather technical and dense in places, and the piano industry has undergone great changes since its last edition.

The "Complete Idiot's Guide" thus fills an extremely important niche and should be read by any family considering the purchase of a piano, whether it is acoustic or digital. The book covers all the essential topics in my opinion. You get enough of an overview of the mechanics of a piano to appreciate their complexity and understand why they are so expensive. Without being overly detailed, the Flinns describe enough of the terminology and parts of a piano that a shopper will not be overwhelmed when a salesperson starts throwing the jargon around. The book also describes the basic differences between various types of pianos (acoustic uprights, grands, and digital pianos) as well as their relative advantages and disadvantages, so that you might be better informed in making a decision about which route to go.

Perhaps the most helpful aspect of the book is the large amount of practical advice the Flinns give regarding the shopping experience and dealing with piano salespeople. We are warned about ploys such as "college sales", the "nail-down" (a piano on the showroom floor deliberately kept in poor condition so as to drive sales toward another model), and the "new in box" sales pitch (unlike just about any other product, you would NOT want to buy a piano fresh from a crate, and the Flinns do a wonderful job of explaining the importance and desirability of dealer prep in acoustic pianos.) I also greatly admired the sections on the controversy surrounding Chinese pianos and stencil pianos. These may (or may not be) good choices depending on one's needs and the particular brand involved, and the Flinns help to clarify these issues.

An additional helpful feature of the book is the inclusion of shopping forms a customer can use to record and compare information about various pianos encountered while shopping.

Overall, the book is very clearly and entertainingly written. The authors are long-time professionals in piano sales, and they obviously know what they are talking about. The only drawbacks that I saw in the book is that (a) some of the extra sidebars that are characteristic of the "Idiot's Guides" format were rather simplistic, and (b) the listing of piano brands and models was confusing and not very helpful, as no information regarding list or MSRP pricing was provided. This omission is no doubt understandably due to the ever-changing price structure of pianos, but a prospective shopper would probably benefit from buying the most recent annual supplement to Fine's Piano Book (which gives list prices for all new pianos) to use as a supplement to this volume during negotiations with dealers.

But those are minor quibbles when considered in light of the overall quality and utility of this book. When I bought my first piano, some years ago before I knew anything about the industry, I walked into a piano store, was completely bamboozled by a fast-talking salesman, and paid full asking price (ouch!) for a low-level upright that was sorely lacking in tonal quality and that I quickly grew dissatisfied with. Had this book existed back then, and had I read it, I would've avoided a $2000 mistake.

This book has all of the information needed for anyone to make an informed decision when buying a piano. The material is organized logically and I especially like the tips for dealing with sales people. I am strongly recommending this book to my clients and more importantly to the piano teachers I work with. Great job!

Bob Casper
Associate Piano Technician

This book was exactly as described and then some! My wife and I have been in the market for an upright piano, however, we did not know much about pianos or the unique buying process for them before reading this book. We have now narrowed down our search and are ready to make our purchase. We believe this book has saved us about $5,000 and helped us avoid buying the wrong type of piano, by allowing us to make an informed decision and purchase. A special thanks to the authors for there honesty and experience! :D

The book is very entertaining and educative, I read as well the Piano Book by Larry Fine which is on the same line of this one and I believe that they complement each other I learned many things from the "idiots guide" and I believe it is a really good guide if you looking to buy a piano and youknow very little or nothing about them