Easily one of the most common questions we get here at Merriam Pianos from digital piano shoppers is how long do digital pianos last? And that’s really not surprising since this is going to be a top question among consumers when shopping for just about anything, whether on Amazon or in a store.
Like with most consumer goods, digital pianos exist in a range of quality levels and as a result, there’s not a one size fits all answer to the question of how long digital pianos last.
In this article and companion video, we’ll cover which components and areas of a digital piano are most likely to fail over time, and provide a quick summary of the expected longevity and durability of digital pianos across different price points and quality levels.
This should prove quite useful if you’re shopping for a digital piano and can certainly weigh in on your decision-making process depending on what kind of lifespan you’re looking to get out of your instrument.
How Long Do Digital Pianos Last? - Background & Context
This article and video really wouldn’t have had much relevance 10 or so years ago. The reason for this is that only a very small percentage of the buying population back then would've been looking at a digital piano as a long-term purchase.Professionals like arrangers and performers, of course, would be concerned about how long a given digital piano would last for obvious reasons, and a few hobbyist players too undoubtedly. The difference today is that there’s a much larger segment of the buying population focusing on a digital piano as the last type of piano that they will ever own.
This shift has occurred for a number of reasons. For one, the sound quality of even an entry-level digital piano is pretty darn good these days and totally eclipses the piano sound of expensive digital pianos from not too long ago. Apps have come a long way to the point of being a legit selling feature too.
There are also a number of playing situations as a homeowner where an acoustic piano simply isn't practical, especially with such good quality digital options that provide home-friendly flexibility.
Digital Pianos Don’t Last Forever
How long digital pianos last is a more pertinent question today than it ever has been at any point in the history of the instrument. But digital pianos do not last forever, and they are not infinitely repairable either.Regardless of whether you're buying an entry-level instrument or a really high-end instrument, your digital piano at some point is simply not going to function the way it was when you first bought it. You will eventually get to a point where it can't be repaired anymore. A good rule of thumb is the more expensive the instrument, the longer the lifespan in pretty much every case, though how the digital piano is used is a huge factor.
Acoustic pianos are an overall different case. Acoustic pianos are forever repairable, and while you may get to a point where the economics are no longer justifiable, that doesn't mean that it's not possible. With many digital pianos, you will actually get to the point where you simply can't source a replacement motherboard anymore.
Which Parts Fail?
Piano Action
At the top of the list as to which components are most likely to fail on a digital piano is definitely the key action. Actions fail or at least degrade for the most obvious of reasons - the mechanism gets pummeled over and over again. In a single playing session, for example, you could be pressing a piano key thousands of times.Multiply this by weeks, months, and years, and you've got a mechanical point on the instrument that is simply enduring a ton of repeated force.
On upright pianos and grand pianos, the same principle applies, with acoustic instruments requiring regular maintenance of the hammer actions (of course they need tuning too), especially with consistent use.
Motherboard & Other Digital Electronic Components
The next major fail point on a digital keyboard tends to be its motherboard or circuit board, as well as other digital electronic components such as key sensors. When the motherboard or sensors will fail is fairly unpredictable, but we do find that these can fail with minimal use, but overall this tends to occur at a very low percentage.Most manufacturers will have some type of fail rate on their electronics within a range of about 0.5% up to 2% or so. When it does happen, there's really nothing to be done other than replacing the failed components. As long as you are able to get in touch with the manufacturer within a reasonable amount of time after buying the instrument, odds are you'll be able to get the motherboard replaced whether it’s still under warranty or not (many digital pianos come with a 1-year warranty).
After a particular model has been discontinued, there should still be spare parts kicking around for a period of time, but once those are no longer to be found, the instrument will be essentially kaput.
Key sensors are subject to quite a bit of impact, but while most of the impact on a key is cushioned by other points, key sensors are another component that do sometimes fail, whether they stop working or start misfiring and are unable to detect the correct touch sensitivity. Individual sensors often can be replaced, especially in higher-level actions, but in older models eventually, new sensors or sensor strips may not be available. Keep these above points in mind when considering a used piano.
Broken Input/Output Jacks
The third common fail point is actually totally preventable, but we see it all the time - busted input and output jacks. Most digital pianos these days are going to have a number of terminals, such as headphone jacks, sustain pedal jacks, MIDI jacks, USB jacks plus of course a jack for your power source, and these need to be treated with some care.What happens quite frequently is that a jack will break or loosen up and fall into the instrument. In other cases, the actual electronic connections will break which means that the jack will need to be re-soldered, but in some cases, this can be difficult to accomplish.
This can happen quite often in homes with young kids, so just keep in mind that headphones need to be plugged in and unplugged with care.
Speakers & Amplifiers
Speakers are always going to be a wear component, but they tend to last a very long time. In fact, speakers themselves are likely to be one of the longest-lasting parts of any digital piano. They're not a particularly complex component, and as long as the speaker hasn't been overdriven, you can find speakers that are decades old, even relatively low-quality ones let alone high-quality speakers.If you are constantly maxing out the amplifier or leaving it on for extended periods of time, the odds increase that it might blow. If you’re pushing your digital piano in the 90%-100% of its possible volume range all the time, there is going to be a very high chance that the amplifier simply won’t make it to the end of its intended lifespan.
Digital Piano Lifespans
The ranges here are going to be fairly wide since the amount of use a digital piano receives is going to be the biggest factor in how long it will last. For example, a basic entry-level electronic keyboard or synthesizer that is rarely used but taken care of could last substantially longer than a higher-end stage piano like a Nord (though they are very durable) subjected to the abuse of a touring musician.That said, being a major volume piano retailer that also happens to have a major music education department has allowed us to observe pretty strong trends in this regard and form a reliable guideline as to what you can expect under normal home use conditions.
We’ll also list some good models from each category, most of which you’ll be able to in-depth reviews on over at our YouTube channel.
Entry-Level Digital Pianos
Entry-level piano keyboards tend to last anywhere from about 3 to 7 years on average. This is more than enough time to get some interest in piano playing and perhaps even trade up to a better instrument while your keyboard still has lots of life left in it.Popular options in this category include the Casio PX-S1100, Roland FP-10, Korg B2, Yamaha P-125 and Kawai ES-110 (soon to be replaced by the ES-120).
Mid-Range Digital Pianos
Mid-range digital pianos tend to be solid anywhere from about 5 to 10 years generally speaking. Of course, many musical instruments from this category tend to wind up inside practice rooms at University music departments, and those ones are going to require replacement much faster due to heavy use by aspiring pianists.Popular options here include the Yamaha Clavinova CLP-725, Kawai CN-201, and Roland RP701.
High-End Digital Pianos
The very best digital pianos currently available, many of which would be referred to as hybrid instruments with the same actions as their acoustic counterparts, high-end speaker systems, cutting-edge sound samples and powerful polyphony will generally offer users 10 to 15 years of trouble-free use.Some great options in this category include the Kawai CA and NOVUS series instruments, Roland GP and LX series pianos, the Casio GP series and Yamaha Avant-Grand series.
Closing Thoughts
We hope this overview of digital piano longevity has been useful. As we said, this has really been aimed at the general user, so if you’re a professional or have some hyper-specific use case in mind, get in touch with us directly for a more specific estimation of longevity.Thanks for reading!
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