This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment I have indeed seen numerous upright pianos being rebuilt....right here in my shop. I recrown the soundboards, and am often stunned by the huge sound they have once again. No I can't tell you how to do that. There is just too much to it. Perhaps I will write an ebook someday. It will take extensive pics as well. I have five or six uprights per year to do. About half of them are players, which we also specialize in. Even though the piano salesmen in this town have brainwashed most folks into believing their line that "You should just throw that old piano away.", we have more work than we can ever get done. I like the victorian uprights most. The actions are mostly replaced and every spring and piece of felt or leather is replaced as well. I only replace a soundboard if someone drove a truck through it. I have had a couple with such bad water damage that the soundboard and all the back wall timbers collapsed into a pile of separate wooden pieces. One had the soundboard separate into a stack of spruce about 8 inches wide. All got glued back together and I loved getting to sculpt a crown into the old and some new ribs. The piano has been back together over a year and it roars. All with the original board. I love it if I can remove the soundboard to recrown it, but most are too well attached. I find most of my customers have Grandma's piano. Some Grandmas have me do the piano so they can hand it down to the grandkids. They don't care that it costs over $10K for rebuilding Mammaw's old player piano. They aren't going to sell it. I have several fine musicians willing to spend the money on an old upright because they know how much it costs to buy an equivalent Bechstein or Steinway. The last time I checked (a while back) a full sized 52" Bechstein was $40K A fully restored high median to top quality brand name upright from 60-100 years ago will out class the sound of many a new piano costing more than the restoration of an old one did. D.L. Bullock www.thepianoworld.com -----Original Message----- From: Erwinspiano@aol.com [mailto:Erwinspiano@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 9:46 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Rebuiling uprights With snips: Although our usual rebuild is some form of grand piano this year I've had a small run of people willing to rebuild solid post Victorian uprights. No boards but full sets of bridge caps, strings, key&action work & hand rubbed lacquer refinishing of the cases. These piano are well preserved Calif. pianos with boards still offering musical potential & of course the never to be seen again Victorian beauty. These pianos are by brand name,Schaaf bros. 1903, Mason& Hamlin 1908. Baldwin 1885,(one of the first) & A Steinway k 1911. This is really weird. We don't usually do more than one per year. My question, is this a trend anyone else is seeing? My criteria for agreeing to take on these projects is that the boards must still sing & not seriously cracked up & that basically a very good musical & aesthetic outcome can be assured. If the piano is a train wreck I don't take the job & I tell them the truth. Nothing marginal. been there done that & it's no fun. It's true (at least in Ca) that perhaps one in twenty uprights is worth doing in the musical sense but none except the Steinway is worth doing in the financial value sense. Make cents? Any way, despite my disclaimer statements to the client (prior to rebuilding) as to its Monetary worth after rebuilding, which is that it wouldn't probably retail for half what they had in it they still choose to do it. The reasons are: Family piano, we liked the old look and sound. It sound better than the new pianos. The case is gorgeous. They'll never make these again etc. That's it. I guess there's folks with money & a different sat of priorities out there willing to do this. Oh yeah I love these Pianos man. Dale Erwin Erwins Piano Restorations 4721 Parker Rd, Modesto, Ca. 95357 erwinspiano@aol.com ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/1a/15/7e/36/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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