Customer Reviews

The Piano Book: Buying & Owning a New or Used Piano

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The Piano Book by Larry Fine (not the same of 3-Stooges fame, I take it), is a must-read if you are thinking of buying a piano. Fine names names--the skinny on all available modern pianos you are apt to find in a dealers' showroom, new and used. Reviewed are servicability, construction quality,tone, and street prices. Armed with this book, a consumer takes a big step towards getting the most piano for his or her money and, most important, reduces the likelyhood of being stuck with an overpriced dog.

To put it another way, I have not met a piano salesperson or dealer who had anything really bad to say about any piece in his or her inventory. Tone quality is something you can distinguish after hearing a few good pianos, but the actual quality of the instrument and how it will hold up over time is known only by those who regulary service them in the field. This is good to know, especially with so many asian-made pianos of questionable quality floating around on the used market.

If you're looking for an entry-level practice piano or a full 9' concert grand, this book will help you cut through all the manufacturers' and dealer hype.

Fine's knowledge of the instrument is great.

Larry Fine does an outstanding job with explaining how to recognize quality in pianos and how to get the trade-off you are looking for. As I read the book, particularly the first edition, it came more obvious which choices for a piano I would like to consider or weed out. It told me many of the aspects of the various piano manufacturers as well as what kind of sales gimmicks to be alert for when I am shopping for anything. Since this book will do all of this explaining, it would definitely be useful to any piano shopper, whether you are looking for one to use or rebuild. It could be also useful for anyone who is studying the economics because it even shows examples of all the different trade-off combinations that a purchaser can run into while shopping for a piano. The Piano Book is also useful because it has information that would be essential to piano owners as well as piano technicians. It tells them everything one needs to know while moving, maintaining, cleaning, or whatever the case may be. Since this is the case, it could help just about anyone involved with the piano decide wisely what they want to do as far as their instruments are concerned. Since Larry Fine gives information on roughly what the piano market is like in his "Piano Book", he helps many purchasers come to a successful conclusion with their piano purchase or maintence, so definitely before you come to a decision about what you want to do about a piano, STOP! Read Larry Fine's book before making an expensive piano decision.

Don't do it!(until you have read this book). As the webmaster for PianoWorld.com, I have a large collection of piano books. This one is the Best! If you are thinking about purchasing a piano, want unbiased information about different major manufacturers or are just curious about what makes them tick, buy this book. Our Web site is dedicated to providing information about pianos, and Mr. Fine's book is the one we often turn to. Well written and easy to follow, it contains an amazing amount of valueable information.

There's not much to add to the superlatives written about this book except to note that simply having it in your possession can influence salespeople!

I took this book with me in Sept. 2003 to buy a "nearly new" piano at the annual sale of the prestigious Peabody Institute in Baltimore. The salewoman noticed it and said, "I see you have Larry Fine's book. I bet you'll leave here with a good piano at a great price."

Throughout our tour of the many pianos on sale, I felt as though she was being more factual because I had the book! And, because I had read parts of it, I was able to ask more questions about the types of materials used in construction of the various parts.

I bought a 2 month old Kawai GM-10 for about 2/3 list price! Not only did the book give me independent in-depth information on the Kawai, but several paragraphs (p.118) to read comparing it to other brands in terms of sound, feel, durability, warranty, etc.

Now, every time I sit at my piano, I feel an added confidence that I'm playing the finest instrument I could afford.

The new fourth edition of Larry Fine's Piano Book is the most informative one yet. I have enjoyed the three preceding editions immensely, but the fourth surpasses them all.

To me, the most valuable part of Larry Fine's book is the information on new pianos (although he supplies lavish information on piano mechanics,used pianos, piano care, and piano shopping as well as the information on new pianos). His book is unique in its effort to describe and explain the different brands and what sets them apart from each other. While the first three editions were all packed with useful information, the fourth edition adds an informal (but enlightening) rating system that ranks the new piano brands. This new rating system represents an extraordinary effort at an unbiased review of the different new brands, and it provides an extremely useful comparison among brands.

The rating system breaks new pianos down into general categories, providing a basis for the reader to use in comparing pianos within categories as well as between categories. Within each broad category, the rating system ranks the various brands. While many of the brands end up with similar ratings, this highly useful fact in itself provides the reader with enough knowledge for an educated evaluation of claims made by dealers in rival brands. The dealers should note: as Larry Fine points out, it is poor selling technique to try to sell pianos by criticizing the competition! Larry Fine's rating system highlights the unwisdom of this critical approach.

Educated by Larry Fine, a piano shopper will have a much more enjoyable experience than he or she might otherwise have had. You may agree with what he says, or disagree with it. You may find an individual piano that transcends the category into which the average piano of that brand seems to fall, or one which does the opposite. But at least you will be in a position of greater knowledge when you shop. Moreover, the book is well written and fun to read. A truly remarkable collection of attributes!

After carefully reading this easy-to-understand book, you will be more knowledgeable and better-informed than virtually any salesperson you'll meet. Rather than relying on salespersons' "soundbites," you will have a comprehensive knowledge of the truly important aspects of quality for any piano, used or new, grand or vertical, and be able to compare features from brand to brand or dealer to dealer. Having played the piano for over 30 years, I very much enjoyed learning so much about the construction and features of this instrument. The book validated many of the perceptions which I already held about certain brands, and allowed me to expand my horizons and look at others I hadn't really considered. In fact, I ended up purchasing a higher-quality brand than I expected to, which I hadn't even really considered at the beginning. If you are in the market for ANY piano, or just interested in learning more about pianos, this book is worth far more than its small cost.

A final note- if shopping for a new piano, it is ESSENTIAL to also purchase the current Annual Supplement to The Piano Book, which provides cumulative updated information since the publication of the full book, and most importantly, it gives list prices for every new piano available in the U.S., which in my experience were accurate. Mr. Fine also provides extremely helpful advice on expected discounts from list price, and negotiating the selling price with the dealer.

I've had two piano teachers and at least one technician recommend The Piano Book to me, and they were absolutely right.

I've read the third edition twice all the way through and have referred to it often since. Not only is it, as advertised, the indispensable guide or buying a piano, it contains well-written sections and diagrams on how a piano works, how to care for and maintain a piano and how to evaluate used pianos. I also recommend buying the supplement; it contains actual "street" prices for every make and model. Through this book I've learned such arcane facts as where to get optical midi readers for acoustic keyboards, where to get humidity controllers for the piano, the history and ups and downs of manufacturers through the decades, and how sound boards, stringing and parts of the action all affect the tone. I've played the piano my whole life and I considered myself a real piano snob, but this book educated me more about the instrument than my thirty years of experience. If you love the piano as much as I do but are slightly unsure of how all the parts work, or if you want to know exactly who all those bizarre manufacturers are you've never heard of before, or if you can't understand why Yamahas are everywhere when they sound so bad, then this book will explain it all to you. The book is obsessive, and it has a following (it also has a great web site). It's one long love-letter to the king of instruments, and I can't wait to read the fourth edition.

Just when I was wondering why a consumer guide did not exist for purchasing a piano, I stumbled upon this book. As a consumer, I was suddenly armed with information that made put me in control! I found it extremely interesting that sales staff suddenly had a marked change in attitude toward me when they found I had done some research on pianos. I also noticed a change in sales tactics when they found out my research included Mr. Fine's book. I love pianos in general and must admit that I was often guilty of falling in love with the packaging while ignoring the importance of the instrument itself. I am an adult just starting to take lessons and I was learning that a quality instrument is important regardless of skill levels. I applaude Mr. Fine because I've learned to 'slow down my search' and know that I will be much happier as a result of my eventual purchase. One caution - this book does contain technical information which may look a little overwhelming at first glance - it isn't! Give it a few pages and you will be surprised at how much you understand. If you are in the market for a piano - YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK

If you are buying either a new or used piano "with strings" (as opposed to a purely digital [no strings] piano), you MUST buy this book.

If you are buying a NEW piano, you also need to buy the yearly "Supplement" book (Current version is "2001-2002 Annual Supplement to The Piano Book", also by Larry Fine).

Together, these two books do not cost much. You WILL save hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars.

Here is what is covered in each book:

THIS BOOK - "The Piano Book". This book has chapters on How a Piano Works, Buying a New Piano, Buying a Used Piano, Piano Moving, Piano Care, and a special chapter entitled "A Consumer Guide to New and Recently Made Pianos", which includes brand by brand listings and rankings in a number of categories. This book DOES NOT include price information. This book has 234 pages of content!!

THE SUPPLEMENT - "2001-2002 Annual Supplement to The Piano Book". This book provides "suggested" list prices for almost every manufacturer and model, AND discusses % discounts you can expect. For example, did you know, that the average discount off of list price is between 15-25%?

This book is published every year in August, based on data from that Spring. For example, this "2001-2002" was published in August 2001, based on data from June 2001. This means that the "2002-2003" version should be available in August 2002. This book has 98 pages of discount and list price information!!

The author has his own website (pianobook.com) which is also listed in the book, and even offers private phone consulatations (for a fee, given your specific needs).

BOTTOM LINE: Buy both of these books. Trust me, you will NOT be disappointed!!!

The salesperson in the piano store assured me that NONE of the pianos in their store were shipped with parts and actions that the Piano Book warned against. So I had them remove the wooden cover plate of a beautiful floor model piano to prove it. And there was the name of the "less confidence" action I had been warned by the Piano Book to avoid. The salespeople were shocked. Another piano of the same brand in the same store had the "higher confidence" brand name parts/action I had been told by the Piano Book to look for. I bought that piano, which was at a lower price than the first one (less fancy cabinet). The salespeople had assumed they were otherwise the same! They were not the same...on the inside. Thank you Larry Fine!