Where can I find a good used piano in Toronto?

March 21, 2008 10:02 AM

Where in Toronto can I find a good secondhand upright piano? My question would have been more complex, but I got the rest of the advice I needed from this great thread, so don't feel obligated to advise me on how to appraise one, move it, or to tune it after I get it home, etc.
posted by orange swan to shopping (9 comments total)

Craigslist
posted by purephase at 10:07 AM on March 21

Hey, Craigslist must be used by more Torontonians than it has been in the past when I've looked there for this or that.
posted by orange swan at 10:31 AM on March 21

I'd put something on CL's Items Wanted. An amazing number of people want to get rid of upright pianos. I even saw a baby grand listed in the free section of cl.
posted by theora55 at 10:39 AM on March 21

orange swan: Hey, Craigslist must be used by more Torontonians than it has been in the past when I've looked there for this or that.

It's very popular. I use it for everything now. Not sure when it happened, but it looks like people in the city use it for everything now.
posted by purephase at 10:50 AM on March 21

I'm potentially selling one (it's in the Toronto area, although I'm not at the moment)...MeFi Mail me if interested.
posted by thisjax at 11:01 AM on March 21

Not Toronto-specific, but check with your nearby universities. Recently a local university was replacing their pianos in the music department and had an open sale to the public, with some really good deals on nice equipment.
posted by slogger at 12:32 PM on March 21

Use a bit of care if you end up buying one from a private individual.

My friend, who is a fairly high profile concert pianist, has a term which he says applies to many of the older instruments for sale.

He calls them "piano shaped objects".

His contention is that not only are most probably out of tune as they sit, but due to the combination of the possibility that they've been played relatively little over the years, along with environmental variables, there's a significant percentage of older ones that simply either can't be tuned at all, or won't stay in tune once serviced by a tuner.

The only reason I had occasion to discuss this with him was because I had an opportunity to get a rock bottom price on what looked like a very nice and well cared for baby grand. He looked it over and told me that it would look great in my home as a decor piece but to not expect to actually play it unless I wanted to have it tuned every month or so.
posted by imjustsaying at 1:05 PM on March 21

I'll make sure to just get a piano that has a good tone as it stands, imjustsaying, and also possibly get a friend of mine who is a composer (Actual typo: composter. Heh!) and piano player to go with me when I check it out.
posted by orange swan at 2:48 PM on March 21

Well, I bought my piano a couple of weeks ago! It's a 1913 Heintzman upright grand in good condition. I did take my composer friend with me and he said it was a good instrument and definitely worth what I paid. Thanks all! When I get to be a concert pianist I'll send you all tickets;-)
posted by orange swan at 9:26 AM on May 6