THE GOODS : Buying on a High Note : Good deals on used pianos, violins and other instruments <i> can</i> be found. But be careful, or you could end up playing a sour note

Pianist Vivian Dow had looked for months for a good used instrument.

“I wanted a Steinway grand,” she says. “But I couldn’t spend more than $10,000.”

And then came her lucky Sunday. Looking through classified ads, she found her piano--a six-foot, 1924 Steinway, for sale for $6,500 by a private party. Dow made an appointment to see it the same day.

“What sold me on it,” she says, “was the sound. It had a very beautiful, warm sound.”

Before she made a final offer, Dow asked her piano technician to check the instrument. With his blessing, she offered $6,000, and two days later, a piano moving company deposited the Steinway in her living room.

Dow was fortunate to find a good instrument at a good price, and the steps she took were the right ones, says Larry Fine, a consultant and author of “The Piano Book: Buying and Owning a New or Used Piano” (Brookside Press, 1987).

Buying a used instrument of any kind is not always that simple, especially for non-musicians. There are good deals, but there are also plenty of lemons. And unless you buy from a reputable dealer, there are no guarantees.

“Someone I know,” remembers Fine, who lives in Boston, “bought a 95-year old piano and was told it just needed tuning. It turned out to have everything wrong with it. They had paid $700 for it, but the piano was worth zero.”

The best way to have the upper hand when buying secondhand, say most musicians and dealers, is to seek the advice of someone who knows about instruments and to make sure the instrument you buy meets your particular needs.

A common misconception, Fine says, is the belief that an old piano is automatically more valuable than a new one. “They can be wonderful or terrible,” he says.

Unlike many valuable string instruments, which seem to get better with age, pianos eventually need to be repaired or rebuilt.

Fine says one of the worst conditions a piano can have is loose tuning pins. The piano strings coil around these metal pegs, which should fit tightly into holes in the hardwood pin block. If the pins are loose, the piano will not stay in tune.

The bottom line, says Fine: “You must have a piano technician check the piano out, because it can have things wrong with it that are not obvious, and some things that seem terrible to the lay person are actually the easiest to fix.”

Buying a piano is relatively straightforward when compared to buying violins, violas and cellos, where prices can easily climb to the hundreds of thousands for a good instrument.

As with pianos, a common misconception is that if a violin is old, it is automatically valuable. Barbara Don, who works at Thomas Metzler Violins in Glendale, says most dealers in town get at least two or three calls or visits a week from people claiming they have a Stradivarius.

“People come in all the time with some violin they’ve bought at a swap meet for $300, thinking they’ve made this great find. And we have to tell them it’s going to cost $800 to fix the instrument, and that they’d have made a better deal buying a Korean fiddle from us,” Don says.

Antonio Stradivari, the 18th-Century Italian violin-maker, made about 1,100 instruments in his lifetime, most worth more than $1 million today. But, “there are literally millions of (violins) labeled Stradivarius floating around,” says Robert Cauer of Cauer Violins, a Los Angeles violin dealer, builder and restorer.

Labels bearing the names of famous violin-makers Stradivarius, Amati, Guarnerius and Stainer are meant to identify the instruments as copies of the original models, not to defraud the buyer.

Cauer recommends reputable dealers: “Buy from someone you trust, someone who over the years has proven to be honest.” Otherwise, the cost of the repairs could exceed the cost of the instrument.

But many players say the best deals in instruments are indeed found through private parties.

Kevan Torfeh, a free-lance cellist and teacher, advises: “Get a cheap instrument if you’re a beginner, and always go buy your instrument with someone who is knowledgeable.”

People who buy cellos from a private party should check for damage and cracks and any obvious repairs. Some cracks are not a big problem. It is common, for example, to find cracks right under the bridge because that’s the part of the instrument that gets the most stress.

Labels inside the instrument give the place and date the instrument was made, but may not be authentic. Make sure fittings are made of wood, preferably one of the harder woods such as ebony. The most expensive cellos are hand-carved; many student cellos are not. It takes someone with expertise to tell the difference.

Otherwise, Torfeh says, “Go to a dealer who guarantees repairs and gives a 100% trade-in value.”

Cauer, like most well-known dealers, guarantees his instruments and allows buyers to trade them in if they change their minds. He also permits customers to take an instrument home to try it out.

The tryout, a local cellist says, is essential when buying a fine instrument. “Especially if it’s expensive, you need some time with it. You can’t buy it after one or two hours.”

The same goes for brass and woodwinds, although because these are cheaper than pianos and strings, the risk involved in buying a used instrument from a private party is less.

“Sometimes you can save anywhere from 25% to 50% on the price of a new instrument, and there are instruments floating around in great condition,” says Gordon Hallagan, a flutist and teacher.

Once you get into the professional realm, where flutes are handmade, Hallagan says, make sure you try different instruments until you find the one that sounds better to your ear. And to be objective, play for your friends and let them help you decide.

After all, no matter how good an instrument is, you must love its sound if you want to derive any joy from it.

“It is a mixture of rationality and heart,” Fine says . “It’s kind of like finding a mate. It is best if you fall in love, but it’s also best to get it checked.”

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Here’s a brief guide to trouble-shooting when you are considering buying a used musical instrument. In all cases, if you are an amateur, it is best to have a professional look at the instrument before you buy.

Brass and Woodwinds: Check for superficial dents or scratches, which while cosmetic, should lower the price. Avoid instruments with deep dents or scratches. Check that the pads are clean. If they have deep black circles, the instrument needs a re-padding job, which can cost several hundred dollars. Check that the key-work is symmetrical and everything moves up and down correctly. In woodwinds, deep cracks on the body tubing are a primary concern. In brass instruments, avoid cracks altogether. Violins: Check for cracks or open seams. Repaired cracks are OK, but an unrepaired crack will be costly. Check that the fingerboard and the neck haven’t dropped, making the strings too high. The center of the bridge should be 19.5 centimeters from the top of the body. The area from the edge of the top to the upper end of the fingerboard should be 13 centimeters. Make sure that the bridge is not warped and that sound posts are in order.

Pianos: Don’t buy a piano with loose tuning pins. Check soundboard for cracks. If the cracks have been repaired, this might not be a problem. If the soundboard is full of cracks, think again. Look for separated ribs under the soundboard, which can cause buzzing sounds. Check for cracks in the bridges between the strings and soundboard. A badly cracked bridge, like the tuning pins, is very expensive to repair.