The Piano Book: Buying & Owning a New or Used Piano: Amazon.ca: Larry Fine, Keith Jarrett: Books

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From Library Journal

This comprehensive volume contains valuable information for the consumer; following a technical but lucid description of the mechanics of a piano's action, it discusses all aspects of purchasing and maintaining an instrument. Numerous illustrations and charts enhance the text, which is clearly and directly written, and buying tips accompany the guides to purchasing both new and used instruments. But most valuable for a prospective buyer are the numerical ratings of virtually all models of pianos currently available, both foreign and domestic, based on the experiences of technicians around the country. An excellent source book. Susan Kagan, Hunter Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Noah Adams, host of NPR's All Things Considered

"If there is to be a piano in your future, the single indispensable reference is The Piano Book"

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews

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4.6 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars research power, Oct 27 2002

By

Paul S. Wilson "paul" (Highland Village, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Piano Book: Buying & Owning a New or Used Piano (Paperback)

The salesperson in the piano store assured me that NONE of the pianos in their store were shipped with parts and actions that the Piano Book warned against. So I had them remove the wooden cover plate of a beautiful floor model piano to prove it. And there was the name of the "less confidence" action I had been warned by the Piano Book to avoid. The salespeople were shocked. Another piano of the same brand in the same store had the "higher confidence" brand name parts/action I had been told by the Piano Book to look for. I bought that piano, which was at a lower price than the first one (less fancy cabinet). The salespeople had assumed they were otherwise the same! They were not the same...on the inside. Thank you Larry Fine!

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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars For JapanChina only; Not helpful for quality European pianos, July 16 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Piano Book: Buying & Owning a New or Used Piano (Paperback)

I purchased this book based on the glowing reviews on Amazon as well as on other piano related sites. The book IS a great concept and appears to be quite comprehensive on first glance.

However, if you are shopping in Europe or are interested in including in your search quality European piano manufacturers (many of which have been around 100-150 years) the book is hopelessly incomplete and, more than once, severely out of date and inaccurate. On the entries for various German brands Mr. Fine keeps repeating phrases such as "no pianos appear in our survey", "I have heard that...", "I played on one once...", "it is difficult to make distinctions" or simply copies text from the advertising brochures of the manufacturers.

The ratings and rankings in the summary section and classification of quality are clearly indicated to be the opinion of Mr. Fine, yet are based on only anecdotal evidence. Worse yet, information on changes in ownership or farming out of manufacturing which has taken place in some instances during the last years -- with an enormous impact on quality -- is not reflected in the rankings.

In summary, this is a great book if you know nothing of pianos and are shopping in the States on the low end for cheap Chinese knockoffs or consumer products from the likes of Young Chang, Kawai, Yamaha, etc. If you are trying to sort out the middle/quality or top of the market, include European brands, or buy a traditional grand piano, the book is incomplete and based on heresay/opinion rather than research. It is not terribly useful and can be at times misleading.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Differences between editions..., May 24 2004

By

Thomas W. Clement (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Piano Book: Buying & Owning a New or Used Piano (Paperback)

I own the first edition of this book and it has some advantages over the subsequent editions. In particular, he gives specific ratings for each brand of piano. As I understand it, some piano makers who felt offended by this (i.e. their piano's didn't rate as well as they wished) threatened to sue Mr. Fine, so the ratings were removed from subsequent editions.

Ideally, if you really want the best reference, get the latest edition and supplement, but augment it with the first edition if you can find a copy (yellow cover).

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars influences salespeople
There's not much to add to the superlatives written about this book except to note that simply having it in your possession can influence salespeople! Read more

Published on Jan 10 2004 by Michael J. Cashen

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful!
After a hiatus of almost 20 years, I decided that the time was right to buy a piano for myself and my young son. Read more

Published on Dec 19 2003 by C. M. Cha