Piano Prices in Canada: What New, Used and Free Pianos Really Cost Once They're Home

On this page

1. What a piano costs in Canada, five ways to get one
2. Digital or acoustic: where the RCM draws the line
3. What a new acoustic upright costs, and what comes with it
4. What private sellers ask for a used piano
5. What a free piano costs to bring home
6. What an acoustic piano costs to keep
7. When the piano has to go
8. Frequently asked questions

What a piano costs in Canada, five ways to get one

Back to those tabs: a $599.99 keyboard, a $6,295 upright and a free one on Kijiji. Each is a fair price for a different instrument, so how much a piano costs in Canada depends on which of five routes you take. The number on the ad is also only the first bill for two of them, the used piano and the free one. Both bring a move, and often a pitch raise, which is a rough first tuning that hauls a neglected piano back up to pitch.

The Kijiji figures are our own count. Every other price except our lesson estimate is the business's own published one.

What a piano costs, five ways to get one

The Kijiji counts cover 312 ads for acoustic upright pianos across Canada.

Before you answer any ad, decide between digital and acoustic.

Digital or acoustic: where the RCM draws the line

A digital piano saves you two things. It never needs tuning, and with headphones on, your child can practise early or late without waking anyone. What it can't do forever is stand in for the touch of a real piano action, the wood-and-felt works between key and string. The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), the exam system many Canadian families plan around, says exactly when that starts to matter.

How far a good digital piano will carry a student

Probably further than you've been told. For remote exams, the RCM's exam overview says "a tuned acoustic piano is recommended" from Preparatory, the entry level, through Level 8. It adds that "a weighted-touch electronic keyboard (88 or 76 keys) is permitted." Weighted keys push back under your fingers the way a real piano's do. If you're not sure about a model, the RCM's FAQ says to search the brand and model and read the manufacturer's description.

Those digital prices cover two different purchases. A portable is the keyboard alone: Long & McQuade's listing says the Roland FP-10's matching stand is "sold separately". A cabinet model like the Yamaha YDP-145 arrives with its own stand, three pedals and a bench.

Not ready to buy? We've priced renting a digital piano first in our lesson cost guide.

When an acoustic piano stops being optional

From Level 9 through the Licentiate, the RCM's top diploma, the same rules change to "a tuned acoustic piano is required." Its piano pedagogy exams, for people training to teach, require one too.

That gives you a planning horizon instead of a guilt trip. The acoustic decision arrives with Level 9, usually years after the first lesson. You can read what each RCM level requires and the famous pieces students reach by level to see how far off that is. A student headed there can buy used later, from a dealer, with a warranty.

What a new acoustic upright costs, and what comes with it

Kawai Canada lists its entry upright, the K-15, at an MSRP (the maker's suggested price) of CAD 6,895. Merriam Music, a dealer with showrooms in Oakville and Vaughan, sells it for $6,295 in black polish and $6,695 in mahogany or white. Merriam delivers it within Ontario only, advertises a 10-year warranty on Kawai pianos and says the K-15 is built at Kawai's Indonesian factory. From there, the upright piano price in Canada climbs fast. Merriam's own listing reaches $41,495 for Kawai's MS134 Master and $102,149 for a C. Bechstein Concert 8.

A dealer charges GST or HST, and we couldn't find a price page that says whether the sticker includes it. So ask. While you're at it, get three more answers in writing before you pay: is delivery included, is a bench, and is the first tuning in your home? None of the three is on the price tag.

What private sellers ask for a used piano

We wanted a real number here, so we counted. We pulled every Kijiji ad that came up for an upright piano across Canada, 334 of them, and 312 turned out to be acoustic pianos. The rest were digital pianos, benches, tuning ads, a grand, a toy and a box of parts. Kijiji itself put 234 of the 334 in Ontario, so treat this as mostly an Ontario market.

What private sellers asked for a used upright, by maker

Our count of every Kijiji ad for an upright piano across Canada, keeping the 312 acoustic pianos. The Canadian row counts ads naming Heintzman, Gerhard Heintzman, Mason & Risch, Nordheimer, Sherlock-Manning, Willis, Lesage, Bell, Karn, Weber or Lindsay. Some ads give no price and ask buyers to get in touch.

Not one of the 106 Yamaha or Kawai ads was free. Their median ask was about ten times the median for the old Canadian names.

Why the old Canadian names sell for so little

The gap comes down to age. By the 1980s, The Canadian Encyclopedia records, only three Canadian piano makers were left: Heintzman, Sherlock-Manning and Lesage. Heintzman's Canadian production ended in 1986. Lesage closed in 1987. Sherlock-Manning shut down in the early 1990s. In 1989 the Heintzman name passed to a Chinese-Canadian company that builds its pianos in Beijing.

That means a Canadian-built Heintzman, Mason & Risch or Nordheimer for sale today is more than 30 years old. The trade's peak ran from about 1890 to 1925, so some are a century old. On Kijiji, the 11 ads naming Heintzman included 4 free ones, and the other 7 asked $200 to $845.

If yours came with the house, congratulations. The previous owners have left the problem with you.

An old piano can still be lovely. But the badge on the fallboard, the hinged lid over the keys, doesn't set the price. What a technician will likely find inside does.

What a private sale leaves out

Tax, for a start. A dealer registered for GST or HST charges it on a used piano. A private seller who isn't in business doesn't, any more than you'd charge tax at a garage sale.

The warranty goes too. Paul Hahn & Co., a Toronto dealer, offers "a comprehensive warranty on every piano we sell." A private seller offers none.

The big unknown is condition, and Paul Hahn's FAQ opens that answer with "Wait! Stop!" for good reason: "many pianos for sale on the private market are not tuneable." It names three causes: "age, neglect or poor manufacturing". Once a bad one is in your house, it says, "Removal or repair both have price tags attached." So a free piano needs a plan before it needs a truck.

What a free piano costs to bring home

The bills arrive in a set order, and the cheapest one comes first: an assessment before anyone lifts the piano, then the move, then a pitch raise and a follow-up tuning. We've priced each one from businesses that publish their rates.

Have it looked at before it moves

Paul Hahn's FAQ describes the mistake in one line: "Every week, and sometimes several times a week, we're called to visit a piano that has been purchased privately and already moved, and is not tuneable." Its advice is to book an assessment first, because "$100 could save you thousands." The shop's rate card, though, lists a service call at $130 plus HST, so confirm the price when you book.

Other shops publish the same visit. Glenmore Piano Service in Calgary charges $170 for an inspection, and Edmonton Piano Works asks $200. In Ottawa, Bill Gerow Piano Service will appraise a piano's condition for $100. Lamplight Piano Service in the Vancouver area includes a written condition report with its standard yearly tuning.

You can do a first pass yourself. Look inside for broken strings or hammers, then play every key. A sticky key is usually a cheap fix. A piano that won't hold a tuning isn't.

If the seller won't let a technician look, that's your answer.

What the movers charge, and why the stairs matter

Movers price an upright by its height and the stairs at both ends, so measure the piano and count the steps before you call.

Moving an upright: what four movers publish

High Stream's price includes three stairs, Calgary Piano Movers charges by the step, and Piano Inside quotes before HST. Whichever you hire, plan on a tuning afterward. New rooms bring new heat and humidity, so a piano that has moved will need one in its new home anyway.

The pitch raise most neglected pianos need

Paul Hahn's line is 20 cents. A cent is a tiny slice of pitch, far smaller than the step between two keys. A piano "more than 20 cents flat (or sharp)" needs a pitch correction before it can get a fine tuning. Years without tuning can do that, and so can a move or a shift in humidity. The correction itself "is not guaranteed to be stable", so the shop says a follow-up tuning "is strongly recommended within 3 months".

If the piano won't hold the tension, Paul Hahn gives you a written estimate and charges a service call ($110 plus HST). It credits that amount to the repair bill if you go ahead.

Here's the Toronto arithmetic. Easy Moving's starting price for an upright is $279. Paul Hahn charges $240 for the pitch raise and $160 for the follow-up tuning. That's $679, or about $680, and HST adds $52 to the two tunings. Bryn Mead Studios would cut that sum with its $220 plus HST for two tunings in one visit. The move is the number to watch, because Easy Moving itself puts the average Toronto piano move at $300 to $500.

Before you say yes to a free or cheap piano

• Ask the seller when it was last tuned, and by whom.
• Play every key and press each pedal before you agree to anything.
• Book a technician's assessment before it moves. Expect about $100 to $200.
• Measure the piano's height and count the stairs at both ends. Movers price both.
• Get the moving quote in writing, with HST shown.
• Budget for a pitch raise and a second tuning within three months.
• Ask what removal would cost if it turns out it can't be tuned.

What an acoustic piano costs to keep

An acoustic piano price is really a down payment, because a tuning is a bill that keeps coming. It also costs very different amounts across the country, from $100 plus HST at one Toronto-area studio to $250 at Edmonton Piano Works. A piano nobody has touched in years costs more at every shop that publishes the price.

What a tuning costs, city by city

Each business's own published rates. Several charge extra outside their home city.

To put that in lesson terms, our own page for piano teachers near you estimates C$30 to C$40 for a 30-minute private studio lesson. So a $160 to $200 tuning costs about what four to seven half-hour lessons do. Your own teacher's rate will change that math, and piano teachers in Toronto can quote you theirs.

Why a Canadian winter is hard on a piano

Yamaha Canada says "a relative humidity of between 40 and 45 percent is ideal for pianos." It calls excessive dryness the more serious danger, "especially where heating or cooling systems are used to create artificially dry rooms." Wood and felt shrink as they dry, and then "the tuning pins may work loose, making it difficult to keep the piano in tune."

CAA-Québec, thinking of the people in the house, says a home's ideal winter humidity is 30 to 40 percent. Put the two together and a comfortable Canadian house in January sits at or below the bottom of the piano's band. Nobody's doing anything wrong. The family and the piano simply want different air.

We'd start with a hygrometer, a small humidity gauge, and find out what your piano room reads. Yamaha's fix is "some kind of leafy plant or a humidifier in the piano room", and our own piano page gives the same advice: a room humidifier, and a tuning once the heat is on.

A technician may also offer a humidity system that goes inside the piano. The Piano Life Saver costs $880 for an upright at Glenmore in Calgary, $930 at Edmonton Piano Works, and from $799 plus HST with a follow-up tuning at Bryn Mead Studios in the Toronto and Hamilton area. Skip all of it and the bill comes back another way: Chinook Piano Service warns that a pitch adjustment "may be needed if it has been more than one year since your piano's last tuning, especially if your home is dry and/or drafty."

When the piano has to go

Even donating a piano costs money. Paul Hahn & Co. still helps place good pianos with charities, but the charities "will no longer cover the hard costs". So in Toronto the donor pays $300 plus HST for a tuning and assessment, plus the move, and there's no guarantee the piano qualifies.

Removal is the other road. Live JunkFree lists $265 for a Toronto piano removal, though it sets the final price in person. Quick Junk Pro and Junk Professionals both start at $299 in southern Ontario. Paul Hahn's FAQ has a name for the last stop: "Piano Heaven", "operated by the City Of Toronto in the form of a transfer station."

So before you say yes to a free piano, ask what it would cost to get rid of it. Then book the assessment.

Frequently asked questions

Is a free piano worth it?

Sometimes, if a technician has looked at it first. Paul Hahn & Co. warns that "many pianos for sale on the private market are not tuneable", and an assessment runs about $100 to $200. If it passes, the cheapest published Toronto move plus Paul Hahn's pitch raise and follow-up tuning come to about $680 before HST. If it fails, you've lost the cost of one visit.

How much is a Heintzman piano worth?

Usually not much on the private market, though condition decides it. The 11 Heintzman ads we counted on Kijiji included 4 free ones, and the other 7 asked $200 to $845. Canadian production ended in 1986, and the name has since belonged to a company building pianos in Beijing, so ask which one you're looking at. A technician's appraisal settles the rest.

How much does it cost to tune a piano in Toronto?

A standard tuning costs $160 plus HST at Paul Hahn & Co., $160 at PianoTuners.ca and $100 plus HST at Bryn Mead Studios, which covers the Toronto and Hamilton area. A long-neglected piano costs more. Expect $220 to $240 for its pitch raise, and PianoTuners.ca charges $300 once it has gone six years or more.

How often should a piano be tuned?

At least once a year, says Paul Hahn & Co. Bryn Mead Studios suggests every six to twelve months. Temperature, humidity, where the piano sits and any move all change the schedule. Stretching it can cost you later: Chinook Piano Service warns that a pitch adjustment may be needed after more than a year, especially in a dry or drafty home.

Is a digital piano good enough for lessons?

Yes, through RCM Level 8, as long as the keys are weighted. The RCM's remote exams permit a weighted-touch keyboard of 88 or 76 keys up to that level, though they recommend a tuned acoustic. From Level 9, a tuned acoustic is required. So a family can start on a digital and plan the bigger purchase for later.

How much does it cost to move a piano?

Toronto movers publish upright prices starting at $279 to $390, and Easy Moving puts the average piano move there at $300 to $500. Calgary Piano Movers starts at $199 plus $4 a step for an upright up to 42 inches. Height and stairs set the price, so have both numbers ready when you call.

How do you get rid of an old piano?

Unless someone takes it, you'll pay to have it hauled away. Removal companies in southern Ontario list $265 to $299 to start. Donating through Paul Hahn & Co. in Toronto means $300 plus HST for a tuning and assessment, plus the move, with no guarantee the piano qualifies. Either way, get the full price before anyone lifts it.