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Acoustic Pianos at Mickleburgh

Explore our extensive range of acoustic pianos available to buy online and in our Bristol showroom.

ACOUSTIC PIANO BRANDS AT MICKLEBURGH

BROWSE BY ACOUSTIC PIANO TYPE

kawai grand piano

Grand pianos

The rich, crisp tones and sounds produced by the grand piano cannot be beaten.

Manufactured through exquisite, detailed craftsmanship and the highest levels of attention to detail at every stage of the production process to guarantee the very best sound quality possible.

Upright pianos

If you’re looking for a space-efficient instrument, without compromising on sound output and quality, look no further than an upright piano.

upright yamaha piano
kawai acoustic upright piano

Brand New Pianos

Explore our range of incredible acoustic pianos from some of the worlds most iconic piano brands. All our products are carefully selected to ensure you are getting the very best quality instrument. 

Second hand pianos

All our second hand pianos have been expertly restored and throughly tested to ensure every part of are working and sounded precisely as they should in our own workshops by experienced technicians.

We also carry out extensive refurbishments to quality older pianos makers’ models such as Bechstein, Steinway, Bosendorfer and Bluthner.

mickleburgh upright piano

SPECIALISTS FOR OVER 140 YEARS

Mickleburgh is a family business that have been involved with the making, renovation and selling of pianos since the 1870s, right here in the centre of Bristol.  Today, we stock a huge range of acoustic pianos, with over 100 new and secondhand uprights and grands available to choose from.  

Compare the top brands such as Bechstein, Yamaha, Hoffmann, Kawai or contact us for advice about buying, selling, piano tuning, piano renovation and servicing, hiring and renting or piano removals.  

We can answer almost any question you have about both acoustic and digital instruments.  You can compare digital pianos and acoustic pianos alongside each other in our large showroom, and our experienced staff are always on hand to offer honest advice and help you find the piano that most suits your needs. 

transparent image grand piano
mickleburgh musical instruments history

ACOUSTIC PIANO BUYING ADVICE

How Do I Choose the Right Acoustic Piano?

Where two acoustic pianos are of the same quality of build, the bigger piano will have a better sound.  This is because the strings are longer.  A pitch of a string is determined by the tension, length and mass; so if a string is longer but needs to be at the same tension (to create the same note), you need a thinner string.  Thinner strings vibrate more easily which, alongside a bigger soundboard/amplifier gives you a better sound. 

Where the quality of materials of a piano are better, an instrument will need more time setting up to make the most of these materials.  For mass produced pianos, there is a certain amount of time allocated for every task needed to build a piano (usually around 18 minutes).  This means that on a production line, you get different people working on different sections of a piano and you only ever get an average of everybody’s work. 

High quality pianos both have a higher potential and one technician working on a piano to get the best out of it.  They will spend a huge amount of time voicing, toning and regulating each individual piano. 

You could say a piano is as good as the technicians that have worked on it.  The cheaper mass produced pianos probably have more potential but because pianos are built to a price point, it is not worth spending the time and money improving them.  Those choosing entry level pianos may not notice so much, because technically they are not going to use the piano to its full potential anyway.  Beginners are not going to be playing fast runs, repeated notes, hugely varied dynamics and articulation or other techniques where they need the piano to respond as quickly and sensitively as intermediate to professional players. 

Our second hand pianos are properly set up and serviced in our workshops, which is reflected in the price compared to those found for sale privately. 

Attention to detail is key for a technician working on a piano.  With 5000 working parts, measuring the details in those parts when designing a piano can make the difference.  For example, high quality manufacturers like Bechstein will actually measure the friction in the flange pin to make sure it is working at its absolute best.

A top quality piano will respond quickly and to the softest touch because of the quality, set-up and design of all the parts in the piano action.  There will also be a huge variation in the tone of a note depending how it is played due to the quality soundboard.

New pianos will have a longer life as pianos do deteriorate over time.  There is also an argument to say as a piano settles it will get used to how it is being played.  A classical or jazz pianist will have a very different style of playing.  Pianos are like living instruments, they are primarily made of wood, so it will respond mainly to how it has been played.  It will begin to respond appropriately to a players touch.  Having said this, because acoustic pianos last decades, depending on your budget, a second hand piano offers great value for money as they are likely to have many more years of life left in them.

Vibrations, resonances, and many nuances are not present in a digital instrument.  There is only a particular number of ways of playing a note that will be sampled for a digital piano.   These will be calculated by a computer and any gaps will be filled in by a computer called modelling.  A sample will be restricted by memory as the more memory, the less responsive the instrument will be. 

An acoustic piano needs to be set up and working properly which can cost more than the price of a digital instrument.  For this reason we only sell second hand pianos that have life left in and are worth spending the time on.  Digitals provide a good instrument for certain price range. 

There are benefits of buying a digital piano over an acoustic, mainly the ability to plug in headphones for silent practice and connectivity to apps & software. 

Hybrid pianos however offer the best of both worlds.  Read more about the difference between pianos in our piano buying guide blog.

BOOK A PIANO SHOWROOM APPOINTMENT

Want to test a piano you have seen on the website? Book an appointment in our Bristol piano showroom to try one out at a time that suits you.

Complete the booking form and one of our acoustic piano experts will be in touch to arrange an appointment at a convenient time.

In your appointment, you are free to try out any of the pianos in our showroom. Should you need any assistance, an expert will be on hand to offer advice around any of our pianos and answer any questions you may have.

Come in and try your dream piano today!

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About Acoustic Pianos

Acoustic pianos are traditional instruments where a keyboard causes a hammer to hit the string which is amplified by an acoustic soundboard. 

An acoustic piano will last for years (50+ years from new!) making them much more economical than a digital piano where parts can become hard to source after about 10 years.  Acoustic pianos do require upkeep, tuning is recommended every 6 months and it will need to be serviced over the years to keep all the parts functioning properly.