Ideal beginners 36″ starter piano.

Nothing fancy or embellished in any way.  If your student is struggling with practicing on an electric keyboard, then this is an affordable upgrade to a real musical instrument.  An acoustic piano is a member of the Percussion family. Though they have over 230 strings, they aren’t in the String family.  The piano-action is made up of hammers being launched at the strings, just like a drumstick, mallet or bass-drum beater.  When the keys are firmly pushed one can feel the resistance of the long wooden key-stick levers and the leverage involved in driving the hammers forward.  The pianist feels the let-off or escapement when the jack kicks out and the hammer is in free flight.  They feel the dampers pulling away from the strings and other slight movements that we call the “touch” or the “feel” of the piano.  An inexpensive electric keyboard can’t duplicate the touch of a real piano!  They also don’t duplicate the complex sonic texture of a real pianos tone quality.  The overtone structure of a pianos soundwaves is far more comprehensive than the sound emanating from a small speaker. 

Gulbransen spinet piano S# 436923 Mfg. 1954

88 Keys Piano Warehouse & Showroom price – $1000.

Believe it or not, this is a local one-owner piano built in 1954.  The structural integrity is solid, and it ought to last even more decades.  We inspected it thoroughly, the tuning pins are tight, and it holds its tune.  That’s usually the first thing to go.  The soundboard and ribs, bridges and back structure are also solid.  Surprisingly, there isn’t an excessive amount of wear in the moving parts like the piano-action and trapwork.  The piano wasn’t played very often, obviously.  The vast majority of older pianos on craigslist will not be near this condition.  Gulbransen was a popular piano manufacturer that built around half a million pianos over sixty-five years.  The factory was located in Chicago.