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Hello, this is my first post in Piano World! I’ve been haunting this forum for a couple weeks, and finally decided to ask for advice.

I am looking for a good baby grand under $10,000. Would it be better to buy a lesser brand new or a better brand used? And which brands would you suggest? I always dreamed of getting a Steinway; I played these in the practice rooms at music school and fell in love! But I’ve tried a few older ones, and they just don’t play the same, with some uneven touch and tone and they were $15,000-$20,000! I’m now thinking I should buy a lesser brand and can look at newer or rebuilt Steinways later on, in a year or two. I am a serious player, and have much more time to play now that I was laid off from my day job.

I’d be grateful for any recommendations. Thanks!

There is a reason people are buying Steinway. They last a long time and hold value.
The uneven touch and tone usually could be fixed through replacing or repairing the key mechanism.
Actually the biggest competition for Steinway is USED Steinway.

It is a very common misconception that Steinways hold their value— a myth certainly encouraged by Steinway

The depreciation table at the Bottom of the attached excerpt has a separate line item for Steinway depreciation

https://www.pianobuyer.com/article/buying-a-used-or-restored-piano-how-much-is-it-worth/

This store is in your town and it carries Hailun pianos. Although a new Hailun baby grand may fetch more than $10K, maybe they have trade ins?
At any rate, they have a 1962 Yamaha G2 for $3.5K

https://www.northwestpianos.com

Please consider reposting to the main Piano forum, as I think you will get more responses (it’s currently in the FAQ subforum, which doesn’t get a lot of traffic).

My opinion is that this is going to be a very personal decision for you, and that you should get the best piano you can comfortably afford. And by best, I mean best for you. It sounds like you play well enough that you will have distinct preferences for pianos. Try out some new pianos manufactured in China (like Pearl River), as these may be within your budget, and see what you think. Also check out used pianos.

From what I’ve seen, Steinways tend to be on the pricey side, and what you can find under $10k is pretty limited and likely in pretty rough shape. I suspect that in your budget, your best bet is a used piano (not too old) from a good but not top tier manufacturer. If you like the Baldwin sound, these seem to be available at lower prices than you might expect. And definitely look at Yamahas and Kawais. I think you will know what you want (and what you don’t want) when you start playing the pianos. If you do like something that’s used, definitely have a technician check it out before committing.

Also remember that this doesn’t have to be your ‘forever’ piano. It just needs to be a piano that you are going to like to play and that is not going to be a headache for you (either financially or in terms of maintenance/repair work).

Good luck!

Thank you for your responses! I didn’t realize I was posting in the FAQ forum when I posted this. I will post a revised question in the piano forum now that I have looked at some other brands.


I tried Hailun pianos at Northwest Pianos and really liked an HG161. Then I talked to someone at another store who said they used to carry Hailun, but there were so many problems with those pianos that the service contracts were too expensive, so they stopped carrying them. That made me hesitate.


Thanks for reminding me of this! Sometimes I get so focused on something that I can’t see the forest for the trees!