Broadwood Value

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Anne Beetem wrote:

> Alright, now we getting somewhere.  Sounds like 1880-1890 vintage.  I've
> seen this action family fairly often.  I say family as they differ slightly
> maker to maker, model to model.  She does have a somewhat interesting
> instrument, though it was a low end model and therefore not of significant
> furniture or historical value.  For appraisal purposes, again, the old
> replacement value algorithm should work just fine.  I.E. what would it cost
> to find a similar instrument and then costs to bring it to the current
> condition.  You know what the repairs costs and know the original
> condition.  It probably wasn't worth more than $1-$3K before you worked on
> it,hmm?
>
> Best.  Anne
>
> Anne Beetem

-----------------------

Anne,

Well, I just finished its "fine regulation" Friday evening. I must say it plays and sounds somewhat less bad that I expected
it to. The sound is certainly a bit different. We've not done any voicing to what is left of the hammers -- original, I
think, and fairly badly worn -- and I'm not sure what can be done with them. We'll try that on Monday. The scale breaks are
not as bad as I've heard on many other small grands. How much the revised stringing scale and the new soundboard have to do
with that, I don't really know. It wasn't possible to get a real reading on its original performance when it came in. (I
rather assumed that it had essentially no "furniture or historical" value, so I didn't feel it necessary to adhere strictly
to its original design. We did what we had to do to get the piano up and running again.) If there is a down side to the
single row of bridge pins through the two lower sections (with their wrapped strings) I can't hear it. Of course, with the
strings as short as they are down there, I can't hear much of value anyway.

It's been interesting....

Thanks

Del