PIANOS
PIANO LESSONS
EVENTS
PIANO TUNING
AWARDS '09
Frequently Asked Questions / Piano Buying Pitfalls
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WHO WE ARE
WHY WE SELL PIANOS PRIVATE SELLERS LEMON BUSTING BUYING FROM US PITFALLS REASONS TO OPTIMIZE WHEN NOT TO OPTIMIZE OUR PIANOS WHAT PIANOS TO AVOID OTHER USED PIANO SOURCES PRICE COMPARISON INSPECTIONS OF OUR PIANOS WARRANTY TERMS WHO WE ARE Brian Henselman is a Registered Piano Technician who maintains a small collection of high quality pre-owned pianos for resale. He and his wife, Jeannie, also teach private piano lessons. As Austin Piano Teachers they are frequently asked to help clients find the right piano for their needs and budget. WHY WE SELL PIANOS It is the most efficient way to help our clients find a quality used piano. Most first-time piano buyers require professional assistance in their search for a good used piano. Many first-time buyers search for what they "think" was an ideal piano, and once they locate it, hire a piano technician like Brian to "lemon bust" it. Unfortunately, this approach has many limitations (see below). BUYING A PIANO FROM A PRIVATE SELLER Most first-time buyers don't know how to evaluate or pre-inspect a piano. Even when a good candidate is located, private piano owners/sellers don't have a group of pianos assembled for side-by-side comparison. This leaves the buyer having to sample pianos from different sources and compare them from memory. Instead, our clients benefit from sampling a group of pre-inspected pianos (like ours) and comparing them at the same time. HIRING A PIANO TECHNICIAN TO LEMON BUST A PRIVATE SELLER'S PIANO Although it is very wise to hire an independent technician to guide you and inspect a private seller's piano before purchase, this technician rarely gets to see the piano for more than 30 minutes before rendering his or her verdict. Then, even if a privately-owned piano passes a technical inspection, the buyer gets no warranty if purchased from a private seller. There are also additional expenses for the buyer such as having the piano moved, tuned, repaired, and/or optimized after it is delivered. On the other hand, we include tuning, repairs/optimization, delivery and warranty with all of our pianos at no additional cost. WHY YOU SHOULD BUY YOUR PIANO FROM MUSICMASTERS It's easier, and we guarantee our pianos. We simplify the process for our customers by pre-buying a few quality pre-owned pianos and carefully optimizimg them for our clients. This protects our clients from those pitfalls most used piano buyers encounter. Meanwhile, the final cost of a fully optimized MusicMasters piano is comparable to a traditionally purchased privately owned piano, except our customers are not obligated to pay anything for the piano until it passes their final approval. USED PIANO PITFALLS The best advice I can give is don't buy on looks alone. Some of the prettiest pianos on the market have really bad reputations or perform poorly. Also, don't be enamoured by brand name alone. Every manufacturer offers different tiers of quality. Some very respected brands have miserable 2nd and 3rd tier siblings. Terms like "licensed by" or "manufactured for" often indicate one of these lesser tiers. We have found that these sister brands usually don't perform well compared to their parent company. On the other hand, some of the best bargains out there are "off-brand" stencils of a major manufacturer's piano (i.e. a Howard grand piano built by Kawai is a high quality 100% Kawai designed and built piano that is a Howard in name only). Note that many once respected piano manufacturers have subsequently been bought and sold numerous times, and now no longer resemble the original praiseworthy brand. This means that when budget is a priority, our clients rely on us to know the difference and locate them only high quality alternative brands and models. WHY WE OPTIMIZE USED PIANOS There are a lot of local used pianos for sale that are not in optimal condition. We can improve many of these pianos via optimization. Upon completion, a properly optimized used piano typically costs less than half of an equivilent new piano. Also, many of the finest piano brands and models ever built are no longer manufactured and cannot be purchase new. Therefore, if you want a quality vintage piano that is no longer produced, you can rely on us to locate it, optimize, recondition, and/or restore it for you WHEN NOT TO OPTIMIZE Unfortunately optimizing isn't viable for every used piano. To insure that they can be optimized, Brian personally inspects and selects each piano prior to purchase. He looks at cosmetic condition, wear, design, brand-name, touch response, and tone. We will only optimize pianos that were well built by a reputable company, isn't excessively worn, or damaged. WHAT KIND OF PIANOS DO WE SELL? To maintain a stock of high quality yet affordable used pianos, we regularly search for local pianos in good condition that were made by reputable companies. Condition is important to us. We prefer to buy original-owner (non-smoker) instruments that have very little wear. We typically purchase domestic consoles or better that are less than 40 years old, that often look and play like new. Because they have a proven track record, we pay a premium to purchase local pianos that we have already serviced before, as we know these instruments and their history. We also import high-end late-model Japanese pianos. However, because these are such premium imported pianos, their high wholesale prices command a substantially higher resale price. WHAT KIND OF USED PIANOS SHOULD BE AVOIDED? Because of their inferior design and poor construction, We typically do not buy nor resell any spinet-type pianos, even if they are nearly new. We also do not buy nor resell older antique upright/vertical pianos or antique grand pianos. Also, please note that we rarely accept trade-ins. We have found that if someone doesn't want their current piano anymore, and trades it in toward a better piano, then there's usually something wrong with their old piano or they wouldn't be trading it in. WHAT ARE SOME OTHER LOCAL USED PIANO SOURCES? We don't recommend looking for the "cheapest" piano available, even if it's from a dealership. Some resellers are piano "brokers" who will find a cheap piano sight-unseen and clean it up for quick resale. Claims like, "The lowest prices in Texas," etc. typically indicates this type of business. Also, brokers often add hidden charges for delivery, a matching bench, tuning, and/or warranty. We, on the other hand, always include tuning, normal local delivery, a bench and warranty at no additional charge. Even traditional retail piano dealerships often do little to properly optimize a used piano. Many retail dealerships typically only clean up used pianos cosmetically, quickly tuning them to their prevailing pitch, and at best repair or adjust only those parts that are glaringly malfunctioning. This is not optimization. Instead, we at MusicMasters Piano Service fully optimize every piano we sell and stand behind our work. HOW DO OUR PRICES COMPARE? Our prices are generally between that of a wholesale piano "broker" and a retail dealership. We sell our pianos for less than full retail because, unlike typical piano dealers, we do not have a commissioned sales staff, nor pay referral commissions for piano teachers, and/or finders fees to piano technicians who recommend our pianos. Other dealerships routinely pay teachers and technicians for their referals. We do not. DO WE ALLOW INSPECTIONS OF OUR PIANOS? YES. We gladly welcome piano inspections and personally recommend having any piano thoroughly inspected by a qualified independent piano technician (RPT), prior to sale. WHAT ARE THE TERMS OF OUR WARRANTY? Unless negiotated by the buyer as a price concession, all of our pianos are warranteed to function properly and be trouble-free for a minimum of one year after their purchase. We will repair or replace any parts as needed which fail due to defect during this period. If a piano should develop an uncorrectable defect during this one-year period that we are unable to satisfactorily remedy, then we will buy this instrument back for the original purchase price. As of September 1, 2009, MusicMasters "professional" level pianos include an upgraded 5-year warranty option at no charge so long as you have us tune and maintain your MusicMasters piano at least once a year for every year (up to 5 years total). Exceptions: Normal wear and maintenance, (i.e. tuning) is not warranteed. Because we personally perform all warranty work, this is a local, Austin-Area only warranty. Abuse, improper use, or improper maintenance invalidates any warranties implied or expressed. |
If you have any questions, please call us at (512) 301-3503 or email us:
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Copyright © 2009 Brian Henselman, Austin, Texas