Encore Pianos: Things You Should Know

Before you you shop for a piano, it's important to decide what you are looking to accomplish. If you'll take a moment to understand your primary objectives and share this with our staff, we can help you efficiently decide the best options for you to evaluate.

Beginning Players. Many people would like a good piano for their children or themselves to learn to play. For these people, it's important to seek an instrument that sounds good, is fun to play, and that is well prepared and regulated to perform to the needs of a moderate level pianist. Both upright and grand pianos should be evaluated with particular attention to those in Larry Fine's Consumer Grade Pianos. Be sure to consider how well prepared the piano is by the dealer. A piano which is only tuned will not perform nearly as well as a piano which a qualified technician has spent a day or two of time carefully regulating and voicing.

Designer Quality. Other people are looking for a piano which will add beauty and elegance to their home. Many different cabinet designs and woods should be compared to find the one which will add the most to your decor. The many beautiful woods, veneers, designs, and hand workmanship, all add to the cost of the piano over a plain black, basic design, but they can be worth the investment. Most people chose a grand piano, but truly beautiful vertical pianos can be a cherished addition for those with more limited space. You may also wish to request a special order to get just the right look you are seeking. At Encore Pianos, we especially like to help with these kinds of requests!

Artists. For some, the piano is primarily an artistic machine to make beautiful music. Buyers of this class of instrument have spent years not only developing musical skill but have developed musical intelligence with which they can hear and feel the many colors and shades of sound from a good piano. These people have come to appreciate the desire to have a piano which meets the touch requirements, musical voice requirements, and the ability to have the widest possible dynamic range. They want a piano which can play from the softest, creamiest whisper to a brassy, crashing fortissimo. For these gifted musicians, the perfect piano has been skillfully transformed from a machine of thousands of parts to a musical instrument with the complexity, beauty, and magic of an artistic performance grand. Only hand made pianos can meet these expectations. They should consider from the several hand made artist quality brands which we stock including Bluthner, Steingraeber, Steinway, Petrof, Irmler, Kemble, Baldwin Artist series, Mason and Hamlin, and the finest Hailun pianos.

Please read more about Encore's Shopping Promise

Encore's Purpose Statement and Ethical Statement

Resource Books:
Acoustic & Digital Piano Buyer by Larry Fine
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying a Piano by Marty C. Flinn
The Piano: An Inspirational Guide to the Piano and Its Place in History by John-Paul Williams
Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyssey by Perri Knize
A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano by Katie Hafner