Advice for novice?

Zara77

Hi
Im a bit of a novice in the area of pianos and keyboards. I wanted to buy a piano for my niece but they are really expensive. It is for her birthday and i don't normally buy huge gifts but she really wants to play. Anyway i don't know much about pianos apart from they take up a lot of space. So no baby grand! Not that i can afford one. I read somewhere about weighted keyboards-they are meant to be really good according to a friend of mine. I looked some up on Amazon-£1000! I love my niece but no way!!! So im wandering what should a realistic budget be? And where would be cheap to buy from? ( I checked with her mum and school do offer lessons-they would appreciate it, if i did get her one-though not asking)
Any advice greatly recieved:o

fluffymuffy

What's the budget?

This looks good - http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0438109/details.html

Zara77

Hi thanks for your response, to honest i haven't really set a budget. I guess at push no more than £300. Shes had a pretty rough year and is a great kid(says doting aunt!) I did look on ebay-not sure how to do pickup and actually i dont know much-il be really testing my luck,which is not great. I looked on the link but am unsure if its a weighted keyboard. My friend told me that regular pianos,they need tuning on a monthly basis but with these new keyboards-they sound and feel like the real thing. My friend is away for a few months so im stuck.

fluffymuffy

Zara77 wrote: »

My friend told me that regular pianos,they need tuning on a monthly basis...

Acoustic pianos need tuning about once a year. Mine gets tuned every sixth months because I'm a professional piano teacher.

You can get a decent reconditioned one with free delivery and a five year warranty for about £600. I really wouldn't advise buying one from eBay or anywhere it hasn't been checked over by a technician.