Buying a piano without touching /playing it? it might seem like a crazy idea to a concert musician or a professional pianist but the truth is many pianos are sold on ebay every day and the main reason is of course the potential saving you might end up with.
2 CATEGORIES OF SELLER are to be considered on ebay:
A. The one time private party getting rid of the piano for whatever reason:
These type of seller rarely describe the instrument in a sufficiently detailed way and unless you send a piano technician to inspect the piano the only potentially real information you can deal with is moslty from a cosmetic point of view and a very subjective unprofessionaly trained hear.BOTTOM LINE YOU ARE TAKING A BIG CHANCE and do not forget that piano moving is expensive...PLEASE have the piano inspected by a piano technician if you are serious about this project....Do not assume that age has anything to do with the condition of the instrument as this is one of the most common misconception!
B. The regular " piano lister"...that could be a piano technician with only a few instrument or a huge store with some overstock items etc..
These lister will generally be able to answer the following questions and assuming that they are honest you can make up your mind on how much you should bid on the piano!
QUESTIONS YOU MUST ABSOLUTELY ASKED:
1. Where was the piano made(city and country) and when?many brands have lower quality pianos made around the world and this is a sure way to find out what class of instrument you are dealing with
2.Is the pinblock in good enough shape for the piano to hold tune a minimum of 6 month?
3.If the piano was rebuilt was the pinblock changed?
4. Was the instrument ever close to the ocean/ a swiming pool/in a damp basement?
5. Just like a vehicle tire you can find out how much the instrument was used by asking how deep is the groove on the hammers(1to 3mm is ok) or even better get pictures of the hammers.
6.THE SOUNDBOARD....AH AH AH.,... not as important as you might think! (i own a Steinway with 5 cracks in the soundboard and it has a delicious tone) but a good thing to know is if craks are present are they making any distortion or buzz when the piano is played loud.
Finally We would again recommand to have any piano purchase over a $2000 to have it checked by a certified piano technician.
Good luck and happy bidding!
THE TEAM OF A440PIANOS(ALWAYS HERE TO HELP!)

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