How Much Should a Good Piano Cost? A Price-by-Price Guide

QUICK ANSWER: A genuinely good piano starts around £3,000. Below that, you’re paying for a piano-shaped object, not an instrument that holds its tuning and lasts. Above £6,000, you’re paying for provenance and condition, not much extra quality.

Most guides dodge this question with “it depends.” Here’s what your money actually buys at each price point, and where we’d draw the line.

Piano Prices at a Glance

£0 – £500: Free Isn’t Free

Someone gives a piano away because they want it gone, not because it’s a bargain. A piano untuned for 20 years in a damp hallway isn’t a project, it’s a liability. Moving it costs £150-300 before you’ve opened the lid. Restringing, a new soundboard, or an action rebuild adds thousands more, on a piano that was never good to begin with.

If someone offers you a free piano, ask why. The honest answer is usually “because nobody else wants it.”

£500 – £1,000: Still a Gamble

At this price you’ll find genuinely old uprights, some German or Japanese, most simply worn out. A handful are diamonds in the rough. Most aren’t, and you can’t tell which from a photo, nor can the seller.

Buying here? Pay a technician £50-80 to inspect it first. That’s the cheapest insurance you’ll ever buy on a piano.

£1,000 – £2,000: Better Odds, Same Problem

More choice here, and slightly better odds the piano’s had some care. But you’re still relying on the seller’s honesty about tuning, damp, and woodworm. Buying privately without an inspection is still a gamble, just with better odds than the tier below.

£2,000 – £3,000: New, But Compact

This is where new budget uprights live, including the Yamaha B10. You get a warranty and no maintenance history to worry about, which matters to first-time buyers. What you don’t get is much piano: shorter keys, a smaller soundboard, an action built to a price, not a standard. Fine for a first six months. Many players outgrow it faster than expected. At the top of this budget, you can snatch a nice Yamaha U1.

£3,000 – £6,000: Where It Gets Serious

This is the bracket we’d point almost anyone toward. A well-reconditioned Japanese upright, a Yamaha U1 or U3 being the obvious example, is a genuinely different instrument to anything below: full-size soundboard, proper key length, an action built to a standard that hasn’t needed to change in decades.

The trick is knowing what “reconditioned” actually means. It can mean a full strip-down rebuild with new hammers, strings, and a regulated action, or just a clean and a tune. Ask exactly what’s been done, not just whether it’s “reconditioned.”

See our current stock of upright pianos below. Most sit in this £3,000-£6,000 bracket.

Yamaha U1

Made in Japan. A hugely respected piano of the last 60+ years. We currently have 1 in stock.

Yamaha U3

The most popular high-end acoustic piano of the last 50+ years. We currently have 7 in stock.

Yamaha U1 Premium

An upgraded version of the U1 with higher-grade internal materials. We currently have 5 in stock.

Yamaha U3 Premium

An upgraded version of the U3 with higher-grade internal materials. We currently have 5 in stock.

Yamaha YUS5

We currently have 1 in stock.

£6,000 – £8,000+: Excellent, With Diminishing Returns

Above £6,000 you’re paying for age, condition, and rarity, not a meaningfully better instrument than a good U3. Older German pianos, premium Japanese models, and pianos in exceptional original condition sit here. Worth it if you know exactly what you’re buying and why. For most players moving up from a digital or a first upright, this tier barely improves on the one below.

What Our Technicians Actually Say

We asked the people who go inside these pianos every week, not the people selling them, what they’d tell a first-time buyer. The pattern never changed: buy on condition, not price. A £3,500 piano properly reconditioned will outlast and outplay a £5,000 piano with a quick clean and tune. Get what’s been done in writing, and don’t skip the inspection. Read the unedited technician comments at the end of this page on whichpiano.co.uk

So, What Should You Actually Buy?

If you can stretch to £3,000, do it and snatch up a nice Yamaha U1. That’s where you stop compromising on the instrument and start choosing on space and sound, not what you can barely afford. Below that line, you’re buying time until the next upgrade. Above £6,000, you’re buying peace of mind more than piano.

Browse our full range of reconditioned Yamaha pianos here.