buying a piano on the Internet

[David Ilvedson]

I disagree, if one is buying it as an antique, not a musical instrument.   



David Ilvedson, RPT

Pacifica, CA 94044









Original message

From: "pianolover 88" 

To: "Pianotech List" 

Received: 10/22/2007 8:51:28 PM

Subject: RE: buying a piano on the Internet





News Flash! Pianos have ZERO "Antique value". 



Terry Peterson









To: pianotech at ptg.org

Subject: Re: buying a piano on the Internet

Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:27:17 -0400

From: wimblees at aol.com





 I like Ron's assement, but in all honesty, read the second to last paragraph. It appears the buyer did a self evaluation and appraising, based on books and articles he read.   



I have run across people like this who claim the previous tooner offered $5000 for the piano. I quickly tell them to contact the tooner and get his money. The other "appraisal" I've heard is: My neighbor's son's roomate's father moved pianos for a local dealer when he was in college, and he, (the neighbor, who now has a lineage that supposedly has some merit), claims the piano is worth.....



On a serious note, appraising pianos can be very difficult. One does have to have a knowledge of current market prices of both new and use pianos, and a knowledge of what it takes to recondition, or even rebuild a piano. Not all RPT's want to get in the business of appraising, just as not all RPT's want to get in the business of working on players, much less organs. But somehow the public thinks we should know about all keyboard instruments, just because we work on pianos. 





Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT

Piano Tuner/Technician

Honolulu, HI

Author of 

The Business of Piano Tuning

available from Potter Press

www.pianotuning.com





-----Original Message-----

From: paul bruesch <paul at bruesch.net>

To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>

Sent: Mon, Oct 22 9:58 PM

Subject: Re: buying a piano on the Internet





I'm wondering if the appraiser was an RPT.





On 10/22/07, David and Jean Weiss <djweiss at ntelos.net> wrote: 

A client of mine forwarded me this advertisement for a piano he was considering buying.  If you're in the mood to laugh read on.

David Weiss





Description of Piano from seller:

...the piano is a Beckwith Semi-Concert Grand Upright, manufactured in 1898. The appraiser rated it in very good condition.  I will just tell you some of the things that he noted.  The piano is an antique and will have additional antique value because  of the carving and the cost to restore.  It was totally refinished about 20 years ago and has been maintained in a climate controlled home. The value of this piano is $3250.00 based on age, condition, size, grade and rarity of the instrument.  Beckwith pianos were made for Sears Roebuck.  Grands, Uprights and Players made by different manufacturers marketed by Sears, who claim to have sold as many as 15,000 annually between 1883-1922.  Due to their towering height, these instruments usually had string lengths and musical capabilities equal and often superior to actual grand pianos, thus being labeled "Upright Grand" or "Cabinet Concert Grand" by t! heir manufacturers.

  Unique and distinctive features of construction will be found in the Beckwith Semi Concert Grand piano; the most important of those special features is the sounding board construction which includes the Beckwith semi Concert Grand bent acoustic rim. This gives the Beckwith upright the tone of a grand piano and makes it especially well adapted for concert use. 

  "Cabinet Grand" is a term usually referring to certain large upright pianos over 50" tall. ( this piano is 57" tall, 67" wide, and 28" deep ).  A 52" upright provides as much total soundboard area as a 7' grand piano.  Its #1 bass string's length nearly matches that of a 6'3"grand.  In other words, you get grand piano performance quality in a vertical instrument.

   The appraisal values are stated in U.S. dollars and are based on market values from several sources.  Based on comparisons of pianos of this age, condition and nature offered for sale in newspapers and the Internet by private parties, music stores, auction houses and piano teachers.  These values are certified through research in directories of the Music Industry, such as, The Presto Piano Buyers Guide, The Pierce Musical Instrument Atlas, The Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments and The Bluebook of Pianos, and the Piano Times Newspaper

   Hope this isn't too much info!  The piano is very nice and in very good condition.  I will say that we haven't had it tuned for awhile....our son who played it the most has been away at college and then we decided not to tune it since we were going to sell it.  It is not badly out of tune, though.  It also has 2 or 3 soft keys, which could be adjusted by the tuner. 











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