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With it being "free" you could easily argue any piano is good if it's free but certainly there a better choices than others. Around here there are always free pianos on craigslist. I'd like to try and find a grand or baby grand. I've seen some pop up for free but this isn't the right time to get one - I need to make room. I also want to do a little more research and find out what brands are worth getting. Even if it's free, the cost of picking it up, getting it tuned, may not be worth it in the end.

Can anyone with any piano knowledge tell me about what stuff is good?

We have a free piano, and it's nice. Need to fix the sustain pedal and tune it every once in a while. Sounds great though imo so if you have the space go for it

There was an article on this somewhere.

Make sure every key works.
Make sure the pedals work.
Don't worry about tuning too much, but make sure it's not awful

Those were the only things I can remember. Otherwise you'll end up spending more $ where the "free" becomes a moot issue

I want a free piano..fuck.

A working grand piano is not a cheap instrument, if you see one for free (or even a couple hundred bucks) it is most likely a basket case that needs an extensive restoration to get it playing again.

Also moving a grand is difficult, they are very heavy and the legs need to be removed etc. It is a job best left to professionals, so that adds to the total cost.

I'd suggest going for a free or inexpensive upright. The taller, the better the sound and action. Make sure all of the notes and pedals work. Take off the bottom panel and look at the bridges, make sure they are free of large cracks, if the bridge breaks the strings will buzz and not sustain.

The nice thing about uprights is you can move them safely with a few guys and a pickup truck or van.

If the piano is way out of tune, it may need to be tuned a few times over the course of a month or two to hold a solid tuning.


That's all I can think of now, I'm a piano tech by trade so if you have any other questions ask away!

^ Agreed. Most of the "take this off my hands and it's free" types of deals are spinets/uprights anyway. This is not a bad thing—they don't take up a ton of space and can sound great.

We have a free piano and it's so out of tune the overtones on some chords come close to oscillation

I fucking love it (it sits behind my work desk so I can tinker when I'm bored).

I will stress, DO NOT get a spinet.
Yeah, they take up less space and are easier to move, but from a tech standpoint they are a nightmare. If anything breaks in the action it's a disaster to fix, and the piano is so short that it's hard to do a good stable tuning on one. I avoid working on spinets unless it's for a friend or I'm particularly broke at the time.

In the long run you (and your tech!) will be happier with a taller piano.

FREE HARPSICHORDS!

In casually hunting for a band van I keep ogling box trucks with lift gates. It would be dreamy to grab a bunch of free basket case pianos, cut 12 inch holes in the soundboards and mount a speaker or two in each.

I'VE GOT YER REVERB RIGHT HERE.

Eivind August wrote:FREE HARPSICHORDS!

I actually got a smaller harpsichord for free off Craigslist years ago. Traded it through.

I should get one too now that I'm finally listening to Beach House.

crochambeau wrote:In casually hunting for a band van I keep ogling box trucks with lift gates. It would be dreamy to grab a bunch of free basket case pianos, cut 12 inch holes in the soundboards and mount a speaker or two in each.

I'VE GOT YER REVERB RIGHT HERE.

yesyesyesyesyeesssss this.

ratrod wrote:I will stress, DO NOT get a spinet.
Yeah, they take up less space and are easier to move, but from a tech standpoint they are a nightmare. If anything breaks in the action it's a disaster to fix, and the piano is so short that it's hard to do a good stable tuning on one. I avoid working on spinets unless it's for a friend or I'm particularly broke at the time.

In the long run you (and your tech!) will be happier with a taller piano.

Good to know!!!