Grand Pianos

Explore Our Collection of Premium Grand Pianos for Sale
Looking to buy a grand piano, but don’t know what to buy? At Carlingford Music Centre our experienced piano specialists can guide you through our range of grand pianos. We only employ Australia’s leading piano tuners and technicians, giving our pianos a higher-grade tone, touch and playability that is surprisingly unique.

A grand piano utilises a horizontal frame & strings, with the strings extending away from the keyboard. The action lies beneath the strings and uses gravity as its means of return to a state of rest.

There are many sizes of a grand piano. A rough generalisation distinguishes the concert grand piano (between 2.2 and 3 meters) from the parlour grand, or boudoir grand, (1.7 to 2.2 meters) and the smaller baby grand piano (around 1.5 meters).

All else being equal, longer pianos with longer strings have a more substantial, richer sound and lower inharmonicity of the string. Inharmonicity is the degree to which the frequencies of overtones (known as partials or harmonics) sound sharp relative to whole multiples of the first-rate.

This results from the grand piano’s considerable string stiffness; as a struck string decays, its harmonics vibrate, not from their termination but a point very slightly toward the centre (or more flexible part) of the string. The higher the partial, the further sharp it runs.

Acoustic pianos with shorter and thicker strings have more inharmonicity. The higher the inharmonicity, the more the ear perceives it as the harshness of tone.

The inharmonicity of piano strings requires that octaves be stretched, or tuned to a lower octave’s corresponding sharp overtone rather than to a theoretically correct octave. If octaves are not reached, single octaves sound in tune, but double—and notably triple—octaves are unacceptably narrow.

Stretching a small piano’s octaves to match its inherent inharmonicity level creates an imbalance among all the instrument’s intervallic relationships. In a concert grand, however, the octave “stretch” retains harmonic balance, even when aligning treble notes to a harmonic produced from three octaves below.

This lets close and widespread octaves sound pure, and produces virtually beatless perfect fifths. This gives the concert grand a brilliant, singing and sustaining tone quality—one of the principal reasons that full-size grands are used in the concert hall.

Smaller baby grand pianos satisfy the space and cost needs for domestic use; as well, they are used in some small teaching studios and smaller performance venues.
How much is a grand piano?
Grand Pianos can start from as little as $6000 AUD for a used piano and go as high as $1,000,000 AUD, depending on the Brand, Size and Country of Manufacture.
Why is it called a grand piano?
The word “grand,” meaning large, was first used to describe any piano — upright or horizontal — with long strings. Over time, grand became synonymous with horizontal pianos, which were typically larger than their upright cousins. For many years after their invention, upright pianos remained the most popular type of piano for domestic use due to their smaller footprint. However, manufacturers of grand pianos continued to develop smaller pianos that would be suitable for home use.
Is a grand piano worth it?
Grand pianos are generally costly, but you will come across several first-rate brands that are relatively affordable to own. If you are interested in buying a grand piano from Petrof, for example, you should expect to spend approximately $50,000 or more. While this may understandably be very expensive for some people, it is certainly worth the money, especially when you consider its features. A number of grand piano prices start in the region of $15,000 to $30,000, and these are often grand pianos from brands such as Baldwin, Yamaha, or Kawai.
Should I buy a Grand Piano or a higher-range Upright?
There are many things to consider, but in a nutshell, Grands have the aesthetic advantage over Uprights although it may be worth considering the overall sound, tone and touch of a more professional upright.
What are some of the best grand piano brands?

PETROF
KAWAI
Stuart & Sons
Bösendorfer
FAZIOLI
Grotrian
Sauter
Shigeru Kawai
Steinway & Sons (Hamburg)
Steingraeber & Söhne
Yamaha
Bechstein
August Förster
Blüthner
Mason and Hamlin
Schimmel