Pre-Owned Acoustic Pianos: Buy or Rent in Reading

For more than 160 years Hickies Music has helped generations of Berkshire musicians find their piano. Today our ground-floor showroom at 153 Friar Street, Reading RG1 1HE houses a hand-picked range of refurbished uprights and baby grands, each regulated and voiced by our own technicians before it reaches the shop floor. Whether you’re ready to purchase outright or prefer to start on a flexible rental, every instrument here is tuned, warranted and ready to play.

Why Choose a Pre-Owned Piano?

Choosing a pre-owned piano gives you beautiful sound and excellent quality at an affordable price, and at Hickies we’ve made the process of buying a pre-owned piano as easy as possible.

We carefully select each of our pre-owned pianos for their quality, tone, and playability. Every piano is thoroughly inspected, serviced, and tuned by our expert technician, who has been caring for Hickies pianos for over 30 years.

Not sure if you’re ready to commit? You can rent any of our pre-owned pianos first, and if you decide to buy within six months, we’ll credit your full rental payments toward your purchase. It’s the easiest way to try out a piano without purchasing upfront.

We personally deliver each piano to your home using our in-house team, ensuring safe and professional handling every step of the way. Plus, every piano comes with a free tuning once it has settled into its new home and a warranty of up to five years.

At Hickies, buying pre-owned means choosing quality, flexibility, and complete peace of mind.

Our Current Stock & What to Expect

Explore our regularly updated selection of pre-owned pianos, including trusted brands such as Yamaha, Kawai, Bentley, Kemble, Knight, Grotrian-Steinweg, and Weinbach. Every brand we stock is known for their exceptional tone, quality craftsmanship, and responsive touch.

Whether you’re looking for a dependable upright piano ideal for family practice, a refined grand piano to inspire advanced musicians, or a modern silent piano perfect for quiet practice, you’ll find outstanding options here.

Should You Rent a Pre-Owned Piano?

Not ready to drop the full price on an acoustic yet? Renting lets you start lessons on a real piano with almost no risk. Rather than a single large outlay, you secure the instrument with a refundable deposit and a modest monthly fee, typically £50–£85 for uprights and premium models, so you can decide whether piano playing truly belongs in your life before committing significant funds.

Our Rent-to-Buy plan makes the trial period free if you fall in love with playing: up to six months of rental payments plus your deposit come straight off any acoustic piano you purchase, and you can upgrade to a different model, not just the one you hired. If you decide piano isn’t for you, you’ve only paid the rental, nothing more.

Flexibility goes further: there’s no maximum rental period, your monthly rate never rises, and every piano is fully maintained by our in-house technician with 30 years’ experience, so tunings and repairs are covered. Brands like Yamaha and Kawai headline the range, meaning you’re practising on the same makes trusted by teachers and exam boards.

Ready to try it? Just click on the acoustic piano you like, hit “Rent this piano” on its page, and follow the checkout, done!