second hand upright for learner: concert pitch or not ??

davgtrek

hi all
my quest for a starter piano for my daughter continues.
i have some options available locally but a lot of these are not concert pitch second hand pianos.
a piano tuner ( that i cold called over the phone ) has advised me that a lot of second hand pianos that are not concert pitch will prob not be capable of being made concert pitch as the loadings on them would be too great.

so is concert pitch essential to a beginner.
if it boiled down to 2 good condition pianos , one 40% cheaper but not CP or the CP one, is it a no brainer if the CP one was just about in budget.
is there more longevity of playing grades etc in it ?

thanks

Doshea3

Concert pitch is not important unless you intend to use the piano for accompaniment. For learning, once it can be tuned to a fixed pitch, it's fine. 'Concert pitch' is a very modern idea anyway, and didn't have any definition until about a hundred years ago, so it shouldn't be any sort of barrier to a learner. I myself have owned three pianos in my time, and two of them were not set at concert pitch, and it didn't do me any harm.

banquo

Equal temperament is new and scary to me.

Norrdeth

Get this man 24 P&Fs of Bach STAT!

banquo

/held down by men in white jackets and mortarboards, forced to listen.

banquo

According to Boards.ie, I have 440 private messages in my inbox.

Coincidence?

davgtrek

Hi all.
i gather from the jest of the 440 jokes that this concert pitch thing is down on the list of requirements for a nice second hand piano and that as a complete novice I am being sucked in on a sales pitch.

If its only a factor when you have half of the local philharmonic calling around for a jam then I can give it less importance in narrowing down a purchase.

Thanks for any feedback

banquo

Nah, you're fine. Just call round a tuner and say ''tune my piano'' and enjoy the results.

Enjoy the new piano!