It's a question open to a lot of interpretation. At what point would you personally consider a piano 'dead'? And is it really 'dead' if it can be rebuilt and made to play really well again? Or what if it can be well rebuilt, but by current market conditions that costs 1/2 the price of a new piano?
Some pianos are 'good' after 100 years because frankly the owner's performance standards are low and the piano was also particularly lucky in the kind of life it led, plus it was a high quality piano to start. All the keys work, so as far as the owner is concerned, it's a 'good' piano. I know other well-made pianos which drastically need rebuilding within 10 years because they are being used commercially, and the musicians need a well-performing instrument.
Once a year tuning?? Most new pianos will need it 4 times the first year. After that, once a year might be good, or might not. Some will need more. However, if you have a humidity control system installed, tuning will be as stable as it can be. See
www.dampp-chaser.com.
As to the other part of your paragraph, if you play one hour of hard, loud music, that is one thing. If you tinkle lightly for an hour that is another. And how much does the humidity swing in this temperate zone? What is the high humidity, what is the low? What kinds of felt and leather were used? How was the wood seasoned? (These are rhetorical questions.) All of these things are variables such that it is really impossible to predict the future of an individual piano.
All pianos will need regulation. How often will depend partly on how hard and how often it is played, but also how the piano was built originally and what grade of materials were selected. A new low-end piano might well need a full regulation at one year old. That regulation may last a few years. A subsequent regulation may last several years.
Hammers will wear down with use, some more than others. Most can be resurfaced a couple times (if they are not let go too long) then they will have to be replaced. How long this takes will depend on use. I know rock and roll pianos that need new sets of hammers and shanks within 2 years. Someone else might get 50 years out of their set, or anything in between.
There are a lot of other materials in a piano action that will wear down sooner or later, requiring replacement, repair, etc. But it is impossible to know beforehand how long this will take. One piano puts in leather that will last 50,000 miles. Another lasts 100,000. You don't know in advance.
>Would the costs and maintenance requirements be different for an
Generally, the main difference is what's worth doing, given the value of the instrument and what the expected improvements would be. Grands are more 'worth' maintaining than uprights because regulation gives more satisfactory and noticeable improvements, plus they are worth more anyway. Uprights are not as satisfactory to regulate because of their inherent deficiencies of action design, and are not worth as much on the market.
Overall, at today's prices, I would budget about $300/year for grand piano maintenance. What you don't spend this year, save for the future. And make sure you have a good tech who knows how to do all the work, and will alert you as to what is needed. A 'tooner' who is not good at tech work (there are a LOT of them) will not be able to do what is required, and quite often will not even know if and when the work is needed.
A very good investment is a Dampp-Chaser system. It will prevent all climate-related problems (which I estimate is about 1/3 of typical piano deterioration- but can be a lot more in nastier climatic conditions). It will also pay for itself in more stable tuning.
That is really an electronics question. I consider them to be like most consumer electronics containing chips, PC boards, etc. After a certain number of years you will find repair virtually unavailable. But then again, you rarely have any problems for the first 10 years or so, and no substantial maintenance. Though in professional use, I have seen them develop problems. There is still a mechanical aspect to the way the keys move, and where there are moving parts, there is the potential for problems. But in the average home situation it is uncommon to have problems in the first 10 years or so.
But do not consider them to be pianos. They are synthesizers. They do not do what real pianos do despite sales hype or what 18 year old pop musicians might think. The accomplished, classical players I know cannot deal with their limitations, and most teachers are going to tell you they are only usable for the first year or so of lessons. If all you are doing is pop music, it may not matter in your case. But for serious piano music, you need a real piano.
Regards,
Rick Clark
