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Hi all,

I read somewhere that people like to post their shopping experiences to this forum? I wanted to share mine. I decided last year to make my first big piano investment. My budget was in the 10-20 range. I shopped for about 6 months, trying pianos on craigslist every weekend. I narrowed it down to yamaha pretty early, since I've always loved the clarity of the yamaha sound and the smoothness of the action.

I tried a lot of the C series from the mid 1990s and late 80s, in the 10-15 range, and found many good instruments. I found one 1999 S6 that was absolutely incredible, but the seller got rid of it for 25k...more than I could afford.

I almost purchased a 1986 C5, but chose not to after spotting a small split in the rim (many members of this community weighed in on this issue).

In the end I found a seller with a 1985 s400b. It had been owned by one owner and never moved in all its life. The seller was asking 23k, and we settled on 16k. A technician evaluated the piano and gave it an excellent rating. I have subsequently had it evaluated by a more experienced tech, who pointed out some friction in the action that I hadn't noticed. He voiced it and regulated it, and now it's playing absolutely perfectly.

The tech also points out that the strings are a little old, and the piano is not sounding as clear and resonant as it could. Ideally, he says, I'd invest another 3k in it and get all new strings, and eventually new hammers as well. I plan to do this when I can afford it. For now it's an absolutely wonderful piano and I'm very happy with the purchase.

For shoppers out there looking to get a sense of what a good price is, my tech says even with the aging strings the price of 16k was a bargain. He would have bought it too, he says. This is in southern california (prices vary considerably from market to market).

thanks to everyone in this community that helped me educate myself during this process. I'm really happy with how it turned out and grateful to the community for its support. This is truly what the internet was really supposed to be all about.

Congratulations on your new-to-you grand piano!

Post pictures (and a recording:-) when you can.

All the best,

Rick

Yes, congratulations! There's hardly anything like the feeling of owning a new-to-me/you piano, is there?

Wishing you great enjoyment from this instrument.

Regards,

The S series Yamaha pianos are awesome instruments. Congrats!

Greetings,
Do the hammers first. Strings, unless abused, will often sound the same after 80 years as they sound after 10. The tightness of the bridge pins, and the possible deterioration of the notch's edge are more influential than the age of the wire. There may. be some deformity at the capo, but that is less often the case than bridge damage. I have often replaced a broken string in an old piano,and there is rarely any difference in the sound between the originals and that new one I just installed, so age is not the only criteria for strings. Wound strings can certainly lose their tone with age, but the plain wire. not so surely.
Regards,

Congratulations! I know you're overjoyed with you're new instrument. Enjoy!

+1. Mine are like that. The thing about replacing strings is that when you have them all off, you have access to the bridges, sound board and pin block. So, if the strings are OK, keep them for a while. When you do replace them, make sure the rest of the instrument is as good as the new strings will be.

Hi ashertob,

Thanks for sharing the experience.
I want to ask you about the action of your s400b,
is it a lot heavier compared to the new cx series?

The action was a little on the heavy side when it arrived -- not much, but I did notice it after several hours of practice. My tech explained that this was due to exposure to humidity most likely. Ed Foote has an explanation for heavy action in s400b that he's offered elsewhere on this forum. I'm not sure that was what was going on in piano. But in any case after the tech spent a day with my action it feels really good.