![]()
WARNING TO DIGITAL PIANO SHOPPERS! BEWARE!CAN YOU TRUST THAT PIANO OR MUSIC STORE?!Maybe YES, Maybe NO!Please read this! On Sale, Best Price, 80% off...there is ALWAYS some sort of sale going on in music stores. When you see a "so-called" sale in a piano store for a new model digital or acoustic piano (whether it be a display model, floor model, or previously out on loan model, most people think they will be getting an extra special deal than normal. But in reality you could probably buy that piano for the advertised "sale price" any day of the week if you just negotiate. When shopping for a digital piano at on-line or local digital piano & music stores, it's difficult to know who and what to
trust. By definition, a music or piano store is normally there to
sell you something. Whether it's an acoustic piano, digital piano, keyboard, guitar, band & orchestral instrument, percussion, or other music related product, that
sell you something...and that's OK. After all, they have business
overhead to worry about such as paying for their store, paying for their inventory, paying for their salespeople, paying for their taxes, their utilities, etc. There is a cost for being in business and so a music store needs to make money. Sometimes stores make money by renting or leasing instruments, repairing instruments, or giving lessons to music students, and this is also a good way to make money and provide a needed service to customers. One way or the other, that store needs you to spend money with them to stay in business. If they don't get you to spend money, that piano/music store will go out of business and that's the last thing they want to do and it is usually not good for the community either!
store
When it comes to the products and brands a store sells, it's likely that store will
not say bad things about their product. In most cases a store will only say positive things about the product they sell, otherwise why would they be a dealer for that product? So by definition, if a store needs to make money (and they all do), then they cannot possibly be unbiased towards the products they carry vs products they
donot carry. Whatever a store sells is
always going to be better than a product that store does
not sell...does that make sense? In other words, you'll rarely hear a store tell you "go and buy my competitors piano because it's better than what I have." This just does not happen (haha), and just as likely, a music/piano store will always try to suggest that whatever product
they carry is wonderful and is worth buying, no matter what it is. But in reality that store is in business to
sell product...right? With that in mind, when it comes to digital pianos, the stores need to make a
profit on that sale and the
bigger the profit on a particular brand and model of digital piano, the more likely that store and its salespeople will tell you that specific piano is the
best piano you can buy within your budget. However, that piano may
not be a good one, but you may never know that because you don't understand the way a piano key action really needs to
feel so that it plays music correctly, or how the pedal(s) should operate, or how the dynamic sound needs to respond.
![]()
Another thing to look for when shopping for a digital piano
or musical instrument is when you see a music store
"Grand Opening." If that store has not been in business before and has no other locations, I would recommend you hesitate to purchase something there and go to a local or on-line store that has a good long history of doing business and has developed a good reputation over a number of years. I can tell you who some of those stores are in the US if you contact me. There are definitely music & piano stores and salespeople in the US and around the world who
can be trusted, but as I said before, those companies have usually been there for many years and have earned their reputation and have a lot of history to show for it. Always ask how long that store has been in business and how long that salesperson has worked there. It can be a good indicator of what you should & should not believe about what they tell you. A new local music store with little or no history may be a good place to shop, but you may also be better off going to an established dealer in the community (or on-line) because they may be able to offer better service and better pricing.
It is human nature for store management and the salespeople to want to make the most money he or she can make and so by default, that store and its salespeople
cannot be neutral and unbiased. Whatever they may lead you to believe, that store will always say great things about their brand(s) even though there possibly may be things that could negatively affect your playing and enjoyment of that digital piano. I have been into hundreds of music & piano stores during my long music career and have
never heard a store salesperson say to me "before you buy this digital piano I want to tell you some really bad things about it which may change your mind about buying it." That's never going to happen, is it?:)
A salesperson is by definition, a
salesperson. He or she may know something or even a lot about the product they sell, but he or she is there to SELL you something and the more profit that is in a particular brand or model (assuming they have a variety of brands & models), the more incentive that salesperson has to push that product on you regardless of whether that item is good for your musical needs or not. A salesperson who also
teaches music in a music store, or a teacher who is also a
salesperson in a music store cannot (by default) be neutral because they are usually required by that store to say only good things about the products that particular store sells...even though that "teacher" may not like that piano very much. They are normally required and compelled into saying good things only. On the other hand, there are some fabulous pianos in music stores where music lessons take place and those teachers really do love those instruments because those products are really good:).
But who can you trust and how do you really know? Based on all my years of teaching, shopping, and piano buying experience (which is much more than most people),
you are just a "commission," and a walking "paycheck" for many (but not all) salespeople at music stores and they may have little regard for
your long-term musical goals & needs. Also, just because a particular brand of digital piano may be famous or popular does not automatically make one of their models worth owning as compared to other brands & models. I have seen popular brands in past years like Yamaha, Roland, Kurzweil, and others, produce models that were not as good as other piano brands or models in a similar price range. In fact, there are some (popular) digital piano brands right now that have and do build models which have noticeable and important deficiencies which can inhibit a person's ability to learn & play piano properly. But yet there are on-line & local piano & music stores in the US who say nothing but good things about these deficient pianos when in reality those pianos have problems with poor key action movement, bad piano sound, small dynamic range, low polyphony, poor functionality, or a track record of poor reliability. But you'll never know or get this info from stores that sell those brands because they will not tell you the truth. These particular stores are only worried about their "bottom line," their "profit margin," and reaching sales quotas that manufacturers give them.
![]()
So here's what you need to remember; many piano & music stores and their salespeople that I have experienced throughout the years will usually say what they can to get you to buy what they have and what makes them the most money. They have a physical store and they must continue to sell whatever they can no matter how it will affect you as the buyer. On the positive side, when it comes to digital pianos, there are some piano stores out there across the US that do care about you and have brands & models that are worth buying, as long as the price is fair. But unfortunately, it is difficult to tell sometimes what a fair price is and
who you can trust! Ultimately it will be your decision to make, but in the case of digital pianos, unless you play piano well and are an expert in digital pianos and how they are supposed to function, you may be getting sold a digital piano at a music store that you'll regret owning. Don't get stuck in a position like that.
![]()
![]()
![]()
A good digital piano should give you years of enjoyment as long as it does the fundamentals correctly. Some music store dealers will go to the trouble of producing their own product videos which can be helpful, but unfortunately when it comes to the key action, which is the #1 most important thing to look for in a digital piano, you obviously cannot feel it or play it in a video. It is very easy for a salesperson to make any key action seem good in a video, but a video cannot tell the truth in that area. You simply cannot trust what you see when it comes to physically moving key actions and I can tell you that from much experience. You just have to play them. As an example, there are certain brands and models of digital pianos that have
stiff key actions when playing more delicate music and pressing the keys lightly. If you were to push a key on a regular good acoustic piano and then push a key on one of these digital pianos, you would immediately notice a huge difference. Also, some of the digital piano key actions trigger the piano sound about half-way down as you press the key slowly...and that is bad. On a regular piano you can press the key all the way down slowly and get no sound at all. That's the way it should be but on some digital pianos it is not like that due to poor key sensor software electronics. Some digital piano key actions I have played can be stiff when trying to play softly and easily and you don't want that either. So you just got to be careful and don't think that a video can be a trustworthy source for "feeling" key actions because a video cannot do that:)
![]()
I am a long time experienced digital piano pro musician & piano teacher and have played all of the latest brands and models now and throughout my long 45 year music career (I started very young). I do not have a local store or warehouse, I don't have an on-line shopping cart, I do not need to sell pianos to pay for overhead because I don't have a store and don't need the money, I don't
need to help anyone including you, I don't need to reach sales goals or achieve high profit margins, or to say
good things about
bad pianos (and there are some). I do like to help people get good new digital pianos at low prices because I have always been able to do that for myself and I know how, and that would include all brands and models in that I will tell you what is good, what to stay away from, and how much you should be spending on a particular brand and model of new digital piano. I am also an
expert on older digital pianos in the US (I have played nearly all of them) and can tell you what their value is and whether a specific used one is a good investment or not.
So when someone at a music store tells you they are
unbiased about digital piano brands but they are working for or in an actual music store, that statement is a "
red flag" when it comes to whether you can actually trust them or not and what they tell you. When they make claims such as a specific piano having "
perfect sound & key action-touch," then they are simply being untruthful in my opinion because the
only "perfect piano sound & key action" is in a regular
acoustic piano. Many of the newer digital pianos are getting very close to real acoustic pianos in the way they sound & play and are indeed very enjoyable pianos to own for many years.
For most families and piano buyers, a good new digital piano
will be an enjoyable playing and listening experience as long as you understand what they are supposed to do and any limitations or advancements they may have. Once you understand that then you will become a better shopper and seek out more info from other stores and on-line sources and not spend any more money then you have to. If you want to know the
best places in the US to shop at and what you need to know, please contact me and send me an email. I will be happy to help and give you FREE piano buying and price advice because as a long time piano, keyboard, organ, and guitar teacher, I want the very best for all piano students and people who enjoy playing the piano! That's what its all about:)
If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.
