Player Piano/Spinet/Console question...Plz help if you can.

[masmdu]

We are looking for a piano for my son to start lessons on...we have found upright PLAYER pianos, spinets and consoles for a few hundred bucks.

Personally, I like the player piano. But can one actually "play" the player piano or will it only work as a self playing piano?

Also, any views on spinets vs. consoles?

Thanks!

[Heidi]

1. We had a upright player piano when I was a kid,

and it was what I practiced on for my many hideous years of forced piano lessons. Although the pneumatic mechanism on our player piano was disabled, I believe most player pianos could be "played" by a human, too.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. Yes you can play a player piano "normally"

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.
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But I found the "action" (sensitivity) of the keys to be different

on spinets/consoles -

the shorter the strings, the poorer quality of sound

imagine a bass guitar the size of a ukulele

owwww!

[Bertha Venation]

3. I don't know what a console is, but my grandma taught me on a spinet

Spinets are great, I think. They don't take up too much room and, IMO, just right for a beginner.

Good luck in your decision, masmdu. :hi:

[yellowdogintexas]

4. to be honest, for the starter years, you can make do with a 4 octave

electronic keyboard.

Spinets can sound tinny because the strings are shorter. This definitely varies from brand to brand too.

There are tall uprights (think old fashioned church piano ) and console uprights which are not as tall.

Go used, or try renting one for a bit to see if the piano lessons are going to 'take'. When I first started piano I practiced at my grandparents house because we didn't have a piano yet.

I hope your son enjoys it!