Piano Advice

[Maelstrom]

So, there's this old lady who has a decent piano she'll give away for a donation if my family is interested. However, I have no clue how good it actually is, because it hasn't been tuned in many, many years.
From her description (Abridged)
Baldwin Monarch
Good condition
All the original parts
Says it's "neither an upright or spinet but called a consol from the 1930's"
Has a "baby-grand sounding board"

Any advice from piano aficionados? Is this a decent piano?

[cashwarrior1]

I dunno much about pianos, but it probably will do you good for a while.

[Latios212]

it's free, take it

Wait, do you already have a piano?

[daj]

Ooh. Pianos!

Erm, it sounds a little dodgy to me, haha. I don't know if that particular model of piano is a good one, but it won't matter if it's not maintained well (i.e. heater in, strings tuned well etc.). The damper hammers are probably quite screwed as well if the piano hasn't been regularly used, but then again you guys probably don't live in a humid country like Singapore, so...

If you get to try the piano for some reason, definitely look out for:
- any notes that stick
- evenness; are some keys significantly harder to strike than others?
- if you get to check the strings, see if any of them have gone rusty :p

Those are red-light signs usually. ^^

Um, if you're "donating" for this, I'm getting the idea that whoever is on the other party just wants to get rid of the thing and it'll be awkward if you treated it like a proper transaction. But a piano that hasn't been maintained is as good as no piano most of the time, so yeah, make your call well ^^

All the best!~

[Maelstrom]

Wait, do you already have a piano?

Yep, but it stinks. The keys aren't weighted well, the soundboard changes shape so much in the winter/summer transitions that it's impossible to keep in tune.

Btw, I do know this person. Long story short, my dad is a doctor at a retirement home/nursing home, and this is one of his patients who really likes him. She's getting rid of it because she's pretty much [musically] deaf now (Her words, not mine)

I played it a little, and it felt nice. No sticky keys. It was just hard to tell how it would sound simply because it hasn't been tuned in ages. I saw the strings, and I don't think any looked rusty at all. She's been the only owner for the majority of its lifespan.

She said she's been playing it a lot over the years until the past few.

That enough info?

[Sebastian]

I played it a little, and it felt nice. No sticky keys. It was just hard to tell how it would sound simply because it hasn't been tuned in ages. I saw the strings, and I don't think any looked rusty at all. She's been the only owner for the majority of its lifespan

As a piano tuner/technician myself, it's sounds in very good shape. If it doesn't have any sticky keys or rusty strings, that's a slam dunk. She must have had her piano in a well-tempered room temperature-wise and on an inside wall. If the piano is on an outside wall, it can go out of tune very easily and accumulate rust from the moisture and draft. The piano at our old church was very nice and even it had rust on a few of the keys in the last octave. I'd say get it, especially if you like how it's played and sounds. If not, give her my number

The three (there are more than three, but these are the main things) you should look out for when buying a piano is if there is rust on the strings, sticky keys (sticky keys are actually relatively easy to repair, but  it isn't free), and a cracked soundboard. If the piano doesn't have these things, you should be good. You still need to see if you actually like the piano's sound, look, and feel. There could be other problems with a piano (malfunctioning pedal, crooked hammers, etc.), so you may want to give it a thorough looking at before making a decision.

[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

Oh yeah this thread is old but hey

Consoles are just a certain height range of upright pianos.

Spinet piano: 36-40" (not worth getting)
Console: 40-43" (about the smallest size worth a damn)
Studio: 44-48"
Upright: 48" +

Make sure it's actually a Baldwin, too; lift the cover on the top of the piano and you should find "Baldwin" inscribed into the soundboard itself.
If you haven't already, also take a look behind the soundboard and see how much it bends. This is called "crown", and it's what gives a piano its sound. It can be hard to tell, though, if you're not experienced, so you may want to hire someone to come with you if you're buying used (but in this case, since it's just a free donation, that would probably be more trouble than it's worth).
Keep in mind, though, that tuning is going to be a bitch on that piano. There's a saying that you can't tune an out of tune piano; the reason being that when a piano goes too long without being tuned, when you tune one end of the soundboard, the strings on the other end will warp slightly. In order to get a balanced tuning, your technician will probably have to tune it 2 or 3 times just to get it to hold a pitch at all, and then it'll need tunings every 6 months.

You've probably already made a decision, though, so most of this is unnecessary XD

[Maelstrom]

Yep. It was about 100 cents out of tune

[mikey]

sharp or flat?
I mean, 100 cents is pretty close to in tune anyway (maybe if you're playing like in Bb major you can just play C major and call it good right?)

[Dekkadeci]

Yep. It was about 100 cents out of tune

100 cents flat or 100 cents sharp? I've read that one tuning that people generally accept was used during the Baroque period is A415, which sounds roughly 1 semitone (i.e. 100 cents) flat compared to standard ol' A440 (Hz).