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Hi all, I have an upright and recently acquired a grand with no bench. The bench from my upright works fine for me, but my 7 year old can't reach the keys properly, even with the cheap adjustable bench she was using with the upright.

Can someone recommend an adjustable bench that would be suitable for a grand and would go high enough for a 7 year old?

There are many discussions on adjustable benches on this forum. You can try doing a search on the forum to find the many threads. What is your budget? Adjustable benches can get quite pricey.

Your 7 year old will probably grow like a weed. I found an inexpensive way to accommodate a shorter player like myself was to use a seat pad from my dining chairs. My dining chairs have wooden seats so we bought very comfortable seat pads for each. I would just use one of those until later when I bought the Estonia, which came with a Jansen bench.

If you want an adjustable bench permanently, I’d get a Jansen. Beautiful and well made.

It might make sense to figure out how high your seven year old needs to go before you buy any bench. There may be no sense in buying any bench, especially an expensive one, if it doesn't go high enough. The good benches will generally indicate their seating height range in inches. I don't know if any are meant to accommodate a typical seven year old. I think some of the expensive ones like Jansen may be orderable with extra long legs if necessary. You could also consider just adding some music or telephone books to increase the effective height of the bench.

When I got my grand (which came with a non-adjustable bench) I first got this bench:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072WMPXMM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But it soon proved to be uncomfortable (the cushioning quickly flattened out) and rickety, so I do *not* recommend it.

About two weeks ago (I think, maybe it was more?) I got this bench:
https://jansenpianobenches.com/coll.../products/concert-adjustable-piano-bench

So far it's great and I love it. But it's also a good bit more expensive...

Benches sold by CPS Imports also get great reviews, but when I contacted them, they were back-ordered on the bench I wanted and said the earliest might be February.

You might consider interlocking gym tiles (you can purchase at a home store like Home Depot or Lowes), as suggested here:
https://wellbalancedpianist.com/proper-seating/

The tile suggestion is good because the material means they should stay in place better than some other options.

And you can look here for more suggestions and bench options:

https://joshuarosspiano.com/how-high-should-i-sit-at-the-piano/

Good luck!

Consider putting planks of plywood or similar material under the bench to raise it. You can get these precut at the big box stores. You can also put plywood over a 2x4 frame, so 3\4" plywood on top of a 2x4 frame would give you a boost of 2.25".

http://www.pianosupplies.com/pianos/JansenArtist.html

This is the good stuff. The link is to

https://pianosupplies.com, PW's sister site.

Or, your tech could order one for you, or a piano store. The travel of the adjustment mechanism is only about 4 inches (which is one reason for the bench's rock-solid steadiness), so you may need to order longer bench legs to get your 7-year-old high enough. If it comes to that, there are devices that bring the pedals within reach for a young child, but their legs grow awfully fast at that age. The bench's legs are easy to change out with a socket wrench, and every five years or so, you might want to take the wrench and verify that the nuts are snug.

I have not found the maintenance burdensome. And, once you've worn out the first new grand piano, you might ship the bench back to the factory for a refurb and new upholstery, and get started wearing out the second piano.

I spent a lot of money on lesser benches, before I "came to Jesus" and realized, that I had thrown the money I spent on them, to the winds. The Jansen Artist bench (naugahide top, not the leather) runs a bit over $800. They say it will last a lifetime, and I believe it. It will also make your piano look twice as expensive.

Your young Mozart is lucky he has you. I will hope he sticks with it long enough to absorb, at least, the basics of music reading, while his mind is youthful, plastic, and effortlessly retentive, and puzzles like this are fun. Or, he could be like me, and wait until he has to sweat blood to learn the same skills.

Far be it for me to suggest, or even to recommend, such a base technique as bribery, but I have heard from piano parents that it can seem cheap, compared to other inducements. Some parents' minds seem immediately to turn to military school, but I am thinking more of the healthy application of healthy, but delicious treats, in the education of a family dog.

And maybe that's a good place to let it rest.

If you figure out the height you need, you can see if the better adjustable benches reach that spec. Jansen's standard range is 18" - 21" high, and if you need higher, they can be ordered with extra long legs...+1" changes the range to 19" - 22".

Also available on Pianosupplies.com are the Hidrau Model adjustable benches, and they have a wider, higher range. The 26" model, for example travels from 17.75" - 23".

Both of these are premium and pricier, but will take your 7 year old well into the future. You can certainly explore less expensive or DIY solutions. If you put the current bench on a platform, be sure to design it with some safety or make it large enough so the bench doesn't slide off and topple with your 7 year old on top.

Hidrau over all others for me.

https://www.thomannmusic.com/andexinger_484_artificial_leather_black.htm
Sat on these to play in several venues in Germany. They are very sturdy, easier to adjust (in my experience) than a Janssen (I own 2 Janssen benches and love them), so easier for teaching. These don't seem to squeak, rattle, creak. The Hidrau is "cushier", more deluxe feeling, and a lot more expensive.

Thanks for all the suggestions!! A few comments:
I did search the forums but for some reason couldn't find other posts. I do think I want to buy a nice bench at some point since my existing bench is pretty old. My 7 year old is pretty tiny, so the cushion idea won't work. Possibly if I get an adjustable bench that is a hair too short I can use the home depot squares trick, that sounds really great!

I'll measure and see what my options are. I'm really glad to have so many great ideas!

This is the one we bought for my son years ago. I also used it for cello. It goes up very high and used to be very high quality. You might take a look.


Piano Bench

After looking at the links and checking the height, the Jansen is obviously what I want but definitely not in my budget right now. The Songmics one linked from one of the links seems like a good option but it only comes in black.

Does anyone have experience with Yescom piano benches? They make a brown/mahogany one.

I do NOT recommend the Songmics bench, which I own. If you were to use it without raising it up, it would probably be fine, but I'm guessing you'd want to raise it up to the highest level, and it will quickly become rickety. Even though a child's weight will be light, I suspect little ones may wriggle about and that will bring out the worst in this cheap seat quite quickly.

Unless you or your spouse is handy with tools and could raise it all the way up and then maybe put some metal braces around the mechanism, then it might be fine?

I just coincidentally got an ad in the mail from a company who has Griffin benches. Does anyone have experience with those?