Hello Everyone,

In my previous posts we discussed the inclusion of new piano brands to Pianolobby, Hailun and A.Geyer which we are very excited to be promoting. They are superb pianos and superb value for money in their price brackets, however they are still quite expensive. Pianos are large complicated tools with thousands of moving parts which inevitably makes the price of a good properly working instrument quite high.

It is of course possible to buy a piano for very little money or to get a piano for free, but unfortunately these pianos are mostly at the end of their lives and will not be reliable. A few years ago as a way to try to get around this difficulty, we introduced the Start Line pianos which was intended to help pianists find reliable pianos which were inexpensive. Sometimes these could still be out of financial reach. We realised that this wasn’t the best way forward and Start Line pianos quickly became a Rent/Rent to Buy Scheme.

How does it work? We have tried to be as generous as possible in order to help as many people as we can. It is simple as well, life is complicated enough! Obviously the first stage is to select the piano you like from the pianos we have available to rent. Next is to enter a 6 month contract which starts on the day of delivery rather than the day of selection so as to make the most the 6 months. We charge a delivery fee of £135 and the rental charge starts at £35 pcm. We do not charge for a deposit.

At the end of the 6 months there are then 3 choices. One choice could be to continue renting and we just have an open ended contract. Another choice would be to return the piano. The most popular choice is to buy the piano. The money paid for delivery and in rent comes off the total and just the remaining balance will need to be paid. The piano comes with an adjustable stool, will be in tune and in perfect working order.

The contract to be signed at the beginning of the 6 month term simply asks for the piano to be cared for properly, that damages will be paid for and simply let us know if you move house.

The title of this blog suggests that the discussion is about piano brands, which I haven’t managed to do thus far. Sorry! I do want to show you that it is possible to get a proper piano that is a decent instrument for a manageable amount of money. Yamaha and Kawai, Hailun and A.Geyer are all excellent pianos and we are very careful which ones we select to put up for sale. We treat the selecting of our rental stock with equal seriousness. The pianos at Pianolobby we select as our Rent/Rent to buy instruments are pianos that are mostly aimed towards pianists who are at the early stages of their piano learning.

It is argued that a beginner pianist should have the very best piano money can buy simply because he of she will not then develop bad habits because a poorly functioning instrument. Renting is a good way of ensuring that you get a decent piano. The other main argument I often hear is from parents who are in favour of renting rather than buying because they are not sure that their son or daughter will want to continue playing the piano. Renting is a very good way around this problem.

We don’t limit ourselves to a particular brand for our rental pianos, the criteria is simply to have a piano that feels good to play, has a good sound, mechanically reliable and will hold its tune. Brands we currently have in stock for rent include Bentley, Chappell, Fazer, Hupeld, Ronisch and Weinberg.

If you would like more information click on the showroom button on the home page of this website, call Julian on 020 3645 3930 or send an email to [email protected]. Thank you for reading.