seeking digital piano recommendation

lnelson

i played the piano for years as a kid and teenager, and i'm looking a reasonably-priced full-sized (as in all the keys) digital piano that will feel (and sound) as close as possible to an actual piano without actually being one. key weight is essential, plus i'd love something with a damper pedal. i'd love a real piano, but something with headphones that doesn't need to be tuned is a much more realistic option right now. i don't need any fancy features; the most important feature is that the keys have that piano-y feel.

i don't know much about brands or price ranges, except that some people on amazon seemed really keen on something called the Casio PX110 Privia. that is the sole extent of my current knowledge. it's about $500, less than i expected (i think i could pay up to $800 if i were getting something really nice).

anyone know anything they want to pass along?

sjknoll

I have a Roland at home (can't remember the model number), and I bought it off of Craigslist. It has a lot of fancy functions and different sounds, but I never figured it out since I play classical. I personally wouldn't go with a Casio, brings back too many memories to those little keyboards with the built in speakers.

Other good brands to look at are Korg (but the weighted keyboards are the Triton and Trinity which are $$$ but awesome) or Yamaha. Best thing is to research them out and then see what you can find on Craigslist, then of course make sure they let you play the keyboard. As for a damper pedal, if it comes with one, it usually will be pretty flimsy, you'll need to purchase the kind of pedals that are on a piano, and there are always imputs on the back of the keyboard for it.

Good Luck!

carnivore

You should go to a music store to try out a bunch of models, get a feel for the keyboards, and get a sense of the general price range. Then check out craigslist or eBay to actually buy it.

sweet tea

we have a roland, too. it's about 10 years old now, and still sounds great. only complaint is that the reverb gets stuck on sometimes.

maybe you can find a used one, if you'd like to keep the price down.

lnelson

yeah, i figured i'd want to test out a few models...but i don't even know where there are music stores. i see guitar stores every so often in the village area, but where does one go to test keyboards?

sjknoll

Best bet would be to go to Sam Ash on 47th Street in Times Square. Yeah it's a horrible store, but there should be keyboards to test out on.

longtimesloper

We just bought one for our son a few months ago and love it. It came highly recommended by his piano teacher and by our next door neighbor who is a professional musician.

It is a digital piano with all the keys, full size and weighted! It has a damper pedal also. It even has a built in metronome. It feels like a piano. it came with a stand and a ton of other things. We got a discount on it (professional musician neighbor), but, i believe it is $750 at Guitar Center. We also read tons of reviews on it before buying and they were mostly glowing.

It's called Yamaha YPG-625 88-Key Weighted Portable Grand Keyboard 9though-I don't see how it is portable). Here is a link to it:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Yamaha-YPG-625-88-Key-Weighted-Portable-Grand-Keyboard-103860367-i1155035.gc