A digital piano is essentially a computer
with a keyboard and speakers--if you open
one up, all you'll see inside is a few
computer chips and other electrical
components connected to the keyboard
and speakers with wires. Thus, just
as any neighborhood computer store can assemble
a pc that's just as good as a Dell or
HP, any small company can assemble a good dp
by buying the components: computer chips,
keyboard, speakers, etc., and snapping them
together. Thus, you see many dp's selling
under lesser-known brand names like:
Winchester, Hemingway, Diginova, Sejung,
Adagio, Viscount, etc. These can be
just as good as comparably priced models
from the big-name brands.
As long as you buy from established online
stores, you should be okay, because
well-known online dealers are careful
to stock only good-quality instruments.
I would be careful buying from ebay or
Craigslist, since anyone can sell there.
So if these dealers, gear4music.com and
carnesmusicstore.com, have been around
for years, that would mean that this
model 8800 dp should be a pretty good piano.
Of course, at this price you're not going
to be getting state-of-the-art technology
like on a 2500 gbp digital console.
The action may be "non-progressive," that
is, the keys are fully-weighted but
are not "graded" from the bass to the
treble like on a grand piano, where
the action is lighter as you go up
the keyboard. And the pedal may be
a "non-half pedal," that is, a strictly
"on-off" type switch rather than a
"continuous" one. But that's no problem
at all, because the "graded" action
and "half-pedal" features are not really
necessary on a dp. As far back as the 1980's
there were already very good weighted-key digital
pianos that played similar to today's
dp's, and they didn't have "graded"
actions or "half-pedals." My favorite
dp in fact, a 375 gbp Casio AP-24,
didn't have these features. This
model 8800 dp will play
grand piano-like, even if it doesn't
have a graded action and a half-pedal,
and you couldn't really outgrow it, because
you can't really outgrow an grand piano-like
instrument. You can play anything on
this, from jazz to big concertos.
There is about a 100 gbp difference in price
between gear4music and cranesmusic, and
this may be because the gear4music one
is for just the keyboard unit and you
have to buy the factory stand and pedal
separately, while the cranesmusic one may
include stand and pedal, so you should
double check on this.
