🎹 How to Choose Your First Acoustic Piano (UK Buyers’ Guide)

matthodges3
Dec 19, 2025
5 min read

From the piano specialists at Berries Barn Pianos — where every customer review is five stars.

🎼 Welcome, and congratulations on starting your piano journey

Choosing your first acoustic piano is an exciting moment, but it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by brands, prices, sizes, and contradictory advice online.

At Berries Barn Pianos, a family run business founded by a professional pianist and teacher, we help beginners, parents, and returning adults choose their perfect first piano without pressure, confusion, or guesswork. Every piano in our Norfolk showroom is hand-selected, expertly prepared, and backed by our 2 year warranty (excluding 'clearance pianos').

Whether you’re brand new to music or rediscovering your passion, this guide will help you buy with clarity and confidence.

🏡 1. Start with your space: upright or grand?

Upright pianos

Perfect for most UK homes, especially terraced houses and flats. They take up little floor space while still offering beautiful tone and responsive touch.

Grand pianos

Ideal if you have a larger room and want the fullest sound and dynamic range. Even a small “baby grand” can transform a space — but remember to allow room for both the body and the open lid, as well as for a stool and space to move around the piano.

Baby grand pianos of less than 5 ft in length tend to sound rather disappointing in the bass (lowest octaves) and advanced level players should really aim for a grand of 6ft in length, or longer.

Placement tips

Avoid radiators, fireplaces, and direct sunlight.
Consider volume level, neighbours etc. Acoustic treatment of the room can make a very big difference (e.g. thick rug, soft furnishings etc)

🎶 2. Should you buy new, used, or refurbished?

At Berries Barn Pianos, we specialise in high-quality pre-owned and refurbished acoustic pianos because they offer exceptional value and musicality for beginners and experienced players alike.

New pianos

Consistent and guaranteed
Higher price
Excellent if you want a long-term investment and prefer a factory-fresh feel

Used pianos

Strong value
Quality varies hugely — some privately sold pianos are structurally failing despite looking good externally. Be very careful if looking at private sales and if possible take a good piano tuner or someone who knows what to look out for to avoid any nasty suprises!
It is always safest to buy from a trusted shop / dealer who prepares and inspects instruments thoroughly before sale, replacing worn parts and properly adjusting the action.
All of our pianos come with a minimum 2 year warranty which covers all internal parts, so customers can buy with confidence from us.

Reconditioned and Refurbished pianos (our specialty)

Stripped apart for thorough checking and cleaning
Tuned to concert pitch
Balanced, reliable action
Beautiful tone at an affordable price - our pianos are carefully voiced (often overlooked!)
Cases repaired and polished as necessary
Perfect for first-time players who want quality without overspending

🎼 3. Match the piano to the player

Beginners & young learners

Look for:

A responsive, balanced action
A pleasing tone that encourages practice
Stable tuning and modern construction (cross strung and under dampened)
Smaller, older and cheaper pianos can be absolutely fine as long as they have been carefully selected, checked and prepared

Adults returning to piano

Serious students (Grade 5 and beyond)

Consider:

Taller uprights (118cm+) which will have a larger dynamic and tonal range, increasingly more important with the higher grades.
Higher-end refurbished models
Perhaps a grand piano if space allows

🎹 4. What to evaluate when choosing a piano

Tone

Every piano has a unique voice. Some are bright and clear; others are mellow and warm. Trust your ear, or ask us to demonstrate the tonal character of each model. We can fairly easily voice pianos to be mellower and we regularly do this for customers. It is much more difficult to 'brighten up' the tone, so we tend to keep pianos voiced a little more towards the bright side, then mellow down (or warm up!) the tone on request.

Touch / action

Keys should feel smooth, even, and responsive. A well-regulated action makes learning easier and more enjoyable. Remember that the keys at the bottom end of the piano always feel heavier than at the top end. This is due to the size of the hammer heads - the fatter bass strings need bigger hammers, whereas the thinner treble strings need less weight to achive the same (perceived) volume. This can feel a little strange to someone who has grown accustomed to a non weighted keyboard, but after a short time with the new instrument this will feel completely normal!

Condition

A reliable piano will have:

A healthy soundboard
Even tuning across registers
Clean, well-shaped hammers
No structural issues

Size

In uprights, height matters:

108–115cm or 'studio uprights' – ideal for beginners. Advanced players with limited space may look to the higher end smaller pianos.
118–125cm or 'full size uprights' – fuller, richer tone
130cm+ or 'large uprights' – advanced and professional players

💷 5. Budgeting for your first acoustic piano

Typical UK ranges:

Small uprights: £800–£2,000
Reconditioned taller uprights: £2,000–£4,000 (most first-time buyers choose this range)
High-end uprights: £4,000–£8,000+
Baby grands: from £4,000+
Boudoir grands (around 6ft length): from £5,000+

At Berries Barn Pianos, all of our prices include delivery to ground floor within 100 miles (150 miles for most of our grand pianos) and a matching stool, as well as at least 2 years warranty on all internal parts. We aim to make our prices as transparent, fair, and competitive as possible! Bear in mind that all of our pianos are very carefully prepared to be at their very best. Not all piano dealers / shops operate like this and some simply 'flip' pianos, buying then selling with perhaps just a quick tuning before they leave!

🛒 6. Why choosing the right dealer matters (and why customers trust us)

Buying privately from eBay or Facebook Marketplace might seem cheaper — but hidden issues can cost thousands. A reputable dealer protects you from that risk.

At Berries Barn Pianos, every piano is:

✔ Hand-picked by musicians✔ Fully inspected and prepared before sale✔ Professionally delivered by ourselves or our trusted delivery specialists✔ Covered by warranty and aftercare✔ Sold with honest, helpful guidance and no pressure.

And most importantly:

⭐ We are proud to have only 5-star reviews from every customer.

Our reputation is built on trust, transparency, and a passion for pianos and piano playing.

🎥 7. Visit our Norfolk showroom — or request a personalised video demo

We operate by appointment only so each customer gets calm, focused time to explore the pianos with expert guidance.

If you can’t travel:

We provide personalised video demonstrations
Close-ups of tone, action, keys, and interior
Honest comparisons between models

This is ideal for parents or busy professionals buying from a distance.

🚚 8. Delivery, warranty, and aftercare

Your piano will be delivered by experienced specialists and placed exactly where you need it. As mentioned above, ground floor delivery is included within 100 miles of our base in Norwich, with small additional charges for locations beyond this. Deliveries are usually made within 2 weeks and often much sooner. We have even delivered some pianos the same day! If there are access issues at your property please do get in touch with us for some advice and quotes. After purchase, we offer ongoing tuning advice and support to keep your piano sounding its best.

🎹 Ready to choose your first acoustic piano?

Whether you're choosing your first piano for yourself or your child, we're here to make the process simple, enjoyable, and completely stress-free.

Visit us at:👉 www.berriesbarnpianos.co.uk

Book your appointment and find a piano you’ll love for years!