New or used instrument? What to check before buying
A used instrument can be a great purchase if you know what to look at. Here's a checklist for families and the signs that should make you mistrust.
A used instrument can be an excellent purchase if someone who knows checks them before they pay and a new one gives you a guarantee and less surprises but not always better quality. For a beginner, the practice rule is this: better a good and revised studio usage than a new very low quality.
The guide gives you a method to review any instrument and a checklist per family. For details of each, we link you with the specific purchase guides.
To sum up
- A good quality and well revised user usually plays better than a new very basic.
- Check with person and with a good light and with someone who plays that instrument.
- It calculates what it would have been necessary to put them up to date: ropes, slippers, calibration or tuning.
- If the student's a child that's going to grow up or isn't sure about the instrument yet, rental or borrowing may be better than buying.
- He's misconfident of an advance person without showing the instrument or letting them prove it.
New, used, leased or loaned
| Option | To favor | Against | It's okay if... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuevo | Without wear and wear and with warranty and invoice | The most basic can come badly calibrated | Your teacher knows how good an instrument you're gonna buy |
| Usado | Access to a better quality instrument with the same investment | Possible hidden and unguaranteed damage | You can check with someone who knows. |
| Alquilado | Test the instrument without compromising | It's not yours and we have to get him back in good shape. | The child's gonna grow up or you don't know if you're gonna get on with it. |
| Prestado | You start right away. | He may need some arrangements and we have to get him back. | There's a relative, a school or a band that lends it |
With violins, cello and guitars for children, rental or lending have a great deal of meaning: fractional sizes are small as the child grows up. Instead, the decision weighs more, because to move them requires specialist personnel and that's what it's worth first to think about if a digital piano resolves the initial stage.
How to review any used instrument
- Ask for detailed photos before going: from front, from side, from the joints and from any blow or repair.
- He asks his story: how old his age, who touched him, where his name was and how late his last review was.
- Check with natural light or with a flashlight, with no aim and inside as soon as you can.
- Touch or ask them to touch it: all the notes from serious to sharp, soft and strong.
- Use a [tuner]](/herramientas/afinador) To see if tuning remains stable.
- Listen to the noises that aren't music: buzzing, beating, clicking or escaping air.
- He asked if the seller had any provenance support, such as the original invoice.
The ideal thing to do is to go with your teacher. If you can't come with them, ask them to watch an instrument video by playing all their notes, or get them to a luthier or technical before they close the deal. If you have no teacher yet, you can look for one of your instrument in the [Teachers directory].](/profes).
Also note the climate: an instrument of wood that comes from hot ground and will live in Bogotá, or the other way around, needs a few weeks to adapt, and at that change may appear cracks or outstanding adjustments.
Checklist by family of instruments
| Familia | What to review | Warning sign | That's better. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stretch (guitar, tiple, low) | Straight Mast, Cork height, Stores, bridge well glued | Ripple beaking, pounding cover, crooked mast | A luthier or your teacher |
| Fitted rods (violin, viola, cello) | Fears, soul in place, straight bridge, clawks that hold, arch status | Fits at the cover, pitted diapason, pitted arch stick | A luthier with rubbed ropes |
| Wines of wood (flute, clarinet, saxophone) | Retirement shoes, spring, corks, without play | Serious notes that do not come out, cracks in the clarinet's wooden body | A wind technician |
| Metal wind (trumpet, trombone) | Stones or rods, pumps, drapes | Stolen pistons, pat stick, internal corrosion | A wind tech or your teacher |
| Acoustic Piano | Keyboards, hammers, blackout, tuning stability | Fingerboards, broken harmonic board, Fingerboard | A tuning or technical of pianos |
| Digital Piano and Keyboards | That all keys answer, sensitivities, pedal, exits | Unsound or sound keys as strong as they are | To yourself with an ordered test |
| Percussion | Helmets, edges, frying, pedal, saucer | Plates with fissures, broken helmets | Your teacher or an experienced drummer |
Each instrument has its own details that do not fit into a table. In winds, for example, we deepen how to choose your first saxophonewith everything that's best to look at in slippers and tudel.
The special case of the piano used
Piano is the instrument where a used person can be a great opportunity or a great problem. On the outside they can be pitted and inside have pieces that no longer support tuning. Before buying, ask a tuning or piano technician to check:
- That holds the tuning: if the clamps are loose, the piano will be define within a few days of tuning.
- That the harmonic board and the bridges have no big cracks.
- That all the keys come down and come up with them and they get them and they get them and they get them.
- That the hammers aren't very worn and they aren't eaten by the moth and that the blackout stops the sound by releasing the key.
- That there are no traces of a comejo in the furniture or internal parts.
Add the transport, that you have to do specialized personnel, and first tuning in your new place. If you are in that decision, read how to choose your first piano or keyboardwhere we compare acoustic and digital and know how [piano classes] are](/clases/piano) If you're gonna start from scratch.
Violin and other rubbed ropes: check the arch as well
The most delicate thing about pines, pines and cello used isn't always seen at first sight:
- Flettering: Check the cover, especially close to the effes and bridge and the edges of the instrument.
- Alma: a wooden stick inside the instrument, close to the foot of the bridge with the most acute string. If you fall or run, the sound goes out and place it as a luthier's work.
- Bridge: should be right and have been without curved to the diapason.
- Nipples: have to turn gently and stay put.
- Ark: A straight stick as you look at it along, a screw that will stick up the sows and sows.
- Size: A used violin of the wrong measure isn't a bargain. Confirm the measure with the teacher before buying.
At how to choose your first violin and its size We explain how to measure a child and what includes a study violin.
Alarm signs while buying second
- They ask you for an advance or full payment before viewing the instrument.
- The salesman says the instrument's in another town and can only send it.
- He doesn't let them prove it or make excuses for someone who knows about it.
- The photos appear to be cataloguing and not from the actual instrument.
- Phrases such as "only needs an adjustment" or "only lacks strings," without knowing what an adjustment it's about.
- A price far under similar instruments with no clear explanation.
- No way to figure out where the instrument came from.
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth buying an instrument used for a beginner?
Yeah, as long as someone who knows and put them up to date before they start. A beginner cannot distinguish if a difficulty is his or his instrument, so an ill-tipped used can put him back on his face without reason.
Is it best to rent or buy an instrument for a child?
If the child's in fractional sizes or barely trying, renting or borrowing are usually more sensible. When his or her final size and his or her constancy have been held up for a few months, buying makes more sense.
Can my teacher check an instrument before I buy it?
Ask him: Many teachers kindly check photos, videos or the instrument in person. For internal diagnoses or repairs, what's stated is a luthier or a technician.
What do I lose while buying used?
Normally, the guarantee and certainty about the instrument's history. That's why we have to ask about earlier revisions and reserve some of the budget for adjustments.