USED DIGITAL PIANOS - Should You Buy One? | 2022 Report

I have worked with and played nearly all of the major brands of NEW & USED digital pianos (also known as electric pianos) throughout the years including Yamaha, Roland, Casio, Kawai, Kurzweil, Korg, Technics, Nord, Artesia, Suzuki, and many more. I have played them professionally, recreationally, taught lessons on them and know how they work. There are always used digital pianos for sale on eBay, Craigslist, in various ads on-line and locally, in piano stores and various music stores. 

There seems to be no shortage of used digital pianos and a few are good and many are bad, and some are some in-between. Some models are newer, some are older, and some have useful technology, but many used digital pianos are outdated in terms of not having a good piano sound & key action along with having unseen internal wear, and therefore not worth owning.

Used digital piano

When it comes to used digital piano prices, there is no set standard of what they may be worth or what a good deal is...it's really whatever the market will bear or however the seller is motivated to sell it. Even if the used digital piano that's for sale looks like a "good deal," it may not be a good deal at all, especially when compared with a comparable new digital piano. As with all technology, new digital pianos keep on improving in nearly every way and with those improvements the new pianos usually come down in price, or at the very least, the prices don't go up much. Although used computers or flat screen TV's are a bit different than used digital pianos, the end result is the same. As an example, just try selling a 5 year old used digital TV and see what you get for it? Not much and you probably paid twice as much as they sell for now and it probably isn't even half as good as what there is now. 

Over time the new ones get better and the old ones just become less desirable... unless you're willing to just about give it away. In the case of used digital pianos, what used to cost $2000 new some years ago in terms trying to duplicate the key action & piano sound of an acoustic piano, has now been replaced by brand new digital pianos that are 3 to 4 times as good and cost up to 1/2 the price in some cases. 

Even though the used digital piano may be a good trusted brand name (like Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, Casio, Korg, etc) and the used piano may even be physically in good shape and have a nice looking cabinet, that does not mean it will be a good musical investment as compared to buying a new digital piano.

New technology

Higher quality, name brand new digital pianos are now closer than ever to duplicating the piano keyboard action and piano sound of an acoustic piano.People ask me all the time if they should consider buying a slightly used digital piano over a new one and my answer is "it all depends what you can be happy with?" If you want the best piano tone & touch for yourself and/or your children, then new name brand digital pianos are almost always going to be better in that way. Based on your personal piano playing experience or skill level, you or your children may not be able to tell the difference right away between an older used piano and a new one as far as touch and sound go, but your ability to recreate the song you are playing (or trying to play) in the correct way will be significantly improved by the better and newer digital piano technology. 

Also, if you want the latest in music educational functions using a CoreMIDI compliant USB output to iPad/laptop, including wireless and/or Bluetooth connectivity, then that is also super cool & helpful and many new digital pianos have those features. You and your family should not miss out on fun and instructive things an iPad/tablet or laptop can do for you with the right apps or music education software programs. 

There are MIDI connections on older used pianos which can connect to computers, however, many new digital pianos (not all) now have high speed USB to iPad (or computer) interface connections which are very important in today's world of music education for both kids and adults. Have you seen the available music education, composition, & notation apps for the iPad lately? They are fantastic and so useful in personal music development and understanding. Does the used piano have that ability and function?... maybe yes and maybe no. You should be sure it does because it will open up a much better world of music for you. Also, some of the older USB connections in used pianos are not completely compliant with today's USB technology so that many apps won't work well or open up correctly with those older USB connections and software.

Other important considerations when shopping for a used digital piano are: how much polyphony piano sound memory/processing power does the used piano have 32, 64, 128, 192, 256 or more and does that matter? Do the pedals support "half-pedaling" for more realistic pedal function and does that matter (yes, it does matter)? Are the keys using the latest in key sound sensors to achieve greater and smoother dynamic range in playing songs and does that matter? 

What is the piano sound pedal decay time in the used piano as compared to a new one? That question is very important to piano playing authenticity. Can you do recording on the piano and if so, what kind is it? Does the piano save recordings to an old floppy disk drive  or a newer technology USB flash drive or SD card, or does it save songs at all? If the used piano has an old floppy disk drive, then that is something I would suggest you stay away from. Is the key action lightweight, medium weight, heavy weight, progressive hammer, and is the key action quiet or is it noisy with loose keys. Perhaps the key contacts under the keys are starting to wear out (which they do on some models), and that would be bad. These are things you need to know and questions that need to be asked.

Bad keys - common problem

There are literally thousands of used pianos in private ads and in music stores all over the US and in other countries and there is no factory warranty on those pianos so you do take a risk in that purchase and the risk could cost you hundreds more dollars in repairs in the long run (I have seen this personally). Repairing a digital piano can get quite expensive depending on the problem if it should occur, and the cost of a repair can cancel out any savings you may get on a used digital piano, assuming the used piano can repaired at all! Also, depending on where you live, there may not be a digital piano technician in your area or parts may not be available anymore which does happen...

I have seen this often. At that point you just have to throw out the piano. Occasionally there is a good deal out there, but not very often and how would you really know if the deal was good or not? Are you willing to take the risk in buying a used piano? Remember, there is no warranty and for many people, they think nothing will happen after they get the used piano home. 

But it only takes one "breakdown" with the piano to make things bad as a repair can easily cost hundreds of dollars depending on what is wrong, assuming it can be repaired at all! People don't last forever and neither do digital pianos. 

They can go out or have a problem without warning because eventually things start to wear out (on some more than others and some sooner than later). So be very careful when looking to buy a used digital piano because even though they may look good on the outside does not mean they are good on the inside.

Bad internal circuit board

One of the problems with used digital pianos for sale on the open market is that many sellers think their piano is worth a much high price than it is really worth when in fact, it may have little or no value at all. This is typical of people who buy something (especially electronics) for a lot of money and then still think it's worth a lot of money later on, even after many years and even compared to new digital pianos priced less than their used digital piano for sale. The fact is, digital pianos over a few or many years can depreciate in a big way and they can also wear out and deteriorate. Also, older digital pianos just don't hold high values and in fact may be almost worthless especially in comparison to many of the newest lower price digital pianos. It really just depends on what the piano is, what functions it has, and how it plays and sounds as a piano and as compared to a real acoustic piano or a good new digital piano.

older digital piano internal parts

A false belief some people have is that if it's "used" it must be a better deal than new because it's less money, but that's just not the case any more and it's far from the truth. You can get a new digital piano now for under or around $1000 that is superior in keyboard action and piano sound quality as compared to many older digital pianos that were selling for over $2000 just 5 or 6 years ago. Yet, I have seen some piano stores and/or general music stores (and private sellers) offer used pianos for sometimes nearly three times the price than they are worth because they think they can get away with it or they just don't realize what you can get for the same money in new digital pianos. 

When it comes to piano or music stores that sell used digital pianos, those same stores may offer free delivery, free lessons, free trade-up with your money back on a higher priced used digital piano, etc, but you just don't get something for nothing these days and the "free things" don't come close to how much you may have over-paid for that used digital piano as compared with getting a better new model for less money.

Broken-loose piano keys

Call or email me directly if you are in the US and I will be happy to help you and answer questions. But I don't give price info on individual used digital pianos nor can I judge if a specific piano is a good buy or not because they are all one-of-a-kind items subject to many variables as they will all differ in usage and wear along with being subject to individual conditions which can be hidden inside the keyboard actions or electronic parts.Establishing a general market value for a used digital piano can be very difficult because of these variables, including depreciation, and the used piano sellers on Craigslist and eBay, etc, not recognizing what their used piano is really worth and asking way too much for something that is worth a lot less. When you buy used, you also take a big risk (as I mentioned earlier) and there is no way to get around that. 

So, are good (and the word "good" is very important) used digital pianos better buys than getting a new one? The answer is..."occasionally," but it depends on many things and you definitely don't want to pay too much or get stuck with something that seems good on the outside but has problems on the inside which you may not see or know about! As I said before, it only takes one broken key or bad part on a used piano to potentially add up to hundreds of dollars in repairs (kind of like a used car). A good deal on a used piano is only good when you are really sure the piano is in great working condition and you have carefully compared it to new digital pianos in the same price range. 

If the used piano is a current model then that one may be a good buy as long as the new model has a good track record for not needing repairs or other kinds of service and the used one has a low enough price. In some cases a used digital piano in a lower price range can have a more attractive furniture cabinet than a new one in that same price range. However, the piano sound realism, proper key action movement, and pedal function realism in an older used digital piano may be much less realistic than a new digital piano, so it depends on what is most important to you and your family (the looks or the actual playability of the piano), and what your piano playing expectations are? At the end of the day it's all about enjoying the piano playing experience for you and your family within your budget. But don't short change that experience by getting a used piano that may cause you big headaches down the road, because making music and having fun, whether you are a beginner or advanced player, is what it's really all about.