Speaking as an East Coast guy, we see a lot of Steinerts & Knabes. The private customer will spend as much to rebuild them, generally, with some convincing from their friendly neighborhood rebuilder. As far as selling these, it's possible but certainly nor as easy as the fallboard recognitionof a Stwy or M&H. We can get these pianos for the cost of the move sometimes so if you can pull in enough dough to cover your work, be happy. My angle is to explain to the customer that I have a collection of vintage pianos and that they can pick one out and I will give it to them for free if they are willing to invest in giving the piano a second life. Personally I love working on other fine brands other than Steinway. In fact, my next five pianos are a Steinert, M&H, Old Baldwin, Knabe and Bechstein. Don't forget the Steinert family of Jewett and Hume. I'm really looking forward to trying some of Ron Nossamon/Del Fandrich?Ron Overs innovations to these babies. Jude Reveley, RPT Absolute Piano Restoration, LLC Boston, Massachusetts >> >>> Most of the pianos were Steinways. Was this >>> coincidence? > > > I'm going to try something at the Atelier in the fall and see if it works. > I'm going to rebuild a Steinert 6'3" piano in an "economy-custom" protocol, > refinish it, make it like new and sell it for $18-19,000.00. As I said in > the class, the rebuildable shells must have spent their lives in California: > usable board, block, bridge, back action, keyframe. I think we can execute a > rocking piano and make some money. At first, sales of a piano like this will > be based on personal trust for me, because I don't think the market yet > recognizes the value of a rebuilt Steinert, or Conover, or Mehlin & Sons. > I'm sure the East Coast guys have a different take, but I don't see many > rebuilds at all in Cali that aren't Steinway or M&H; Dale has a different > experience in Modesto, I believe. > Anyway, I hope our rebuilt 6' American pianos with big ol' thick hardwood > rims will kick a modern Yamaha's ass, to be elegant about it. Those who > have ears and fingers will tell us how we do. > > BTW, if any of you list guys are EVER in the LA vicinity, there's an open > invitation for a meal and some pianos. Just give me a little heads-up.... > > xoxxoDA > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20060703/d56b8d8a/attachment.html
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC