[CAUT] To buy New or Rebuilt?

[reggaepass at aol.com]

Carcasses and plates are as long 
lasting in older pianos as in new.

I have long thought that the best way to really "cure" a rim is to build a piano around it and come back 50 - 100 years later.  When the new board goes in, man is that rim stable!


Alan Eder


-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net>
To: caut <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Tue, Oct 12, 2010 6:22 am
Subject: Re: [CAUT] To buy New or Rebuilt?


On 10/12/2010 11:05 AM, Dennis Johnson wrote:
> Hi Cy-
>
> Thanks, and good point of course. I think the faculty were hoping I
> could find some concrete examples of old, rebuilt pianos in a similar
> heavy use environment as new Japanese or Steinway pianos.

There are hundreds of them out there. A bunch of educational facilities 
routinely rebuild old instruments as well as buying new.


>If there is
> such an example it would be interesting, 20 years down the road, but I
> agree with you.  Nothing against the new inventory, but one should not
> presume they will outlast in every case.

There's no reason new will outlast rebuilt in ANY case. The perishables, 
such as actions, pinblocks, strings, soundboards, and bridge caps (etc.) 
are replaced with a decent rebuild. Carcasses and plates are as long 
lasting in older pianos as in new. A thorough rebuild should be as good 
as new, only with the opportunity to improve a few things in the rebuild.


>Neither are the rebuilds
> necessarily a cost savings.

I don't understand this. How can spending 30K resurrecting pianos that 
sell from 60K-120K new not be a cost savings over buying new?


> This semester we just enrolled the largest new class in the history of
> the college.  Sounds like others are doing the same.

Yet few institutions seem to have a budget for piano rebuild or 
replacement. I tune for a college here that has spent vast quantities 
replacing the HVAC system, and ignored humidity control altogether. Then 
they complained that the pianos still weren't staying in tune. This 
year, they replaced the track and football field. EVERYTHING is new, 
fence to fence. Had to have cost a bundle. They somehow managed to omit 
the box office from the plans though, and will be working on tables set 
up outside in the cold and wet in the upcoming season. Their pianos are 
bottom of the barrel. They have one Kawai grand that is somewhat decent, 
and a few new Yamaha verticals in practice rooms. The rest have needed 
rebuilt for many years, but there's no money for doing even the main hall B.
Ron N


 
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