Ryan, This sounds a bit high to me as well. I think a whole stack could be done for more like $5-6 K with complete action geometry included. I doubt this piano is so far out that it would need a complete geometry overhaul as well. At this point, the piano is so far messed up that anything at all would drasically help the poor old thing. If 7,500 was the quote, I would seriously tempt her with replacing the piano! What does a new Samick (previously DH Baldwin) go for these days. We were talking yesterday that she would probably expect a $15K sticker price for a new one of that size (about 5'6") That gets to the 50% rebuilding cost of new quote I heard earlier, which I agree with, unless a real gem of a piano that would bring the piano back to amazing. This one will never be amazing, sadly. Thanks for all the input folks! Paul From: Ryan Sowers <tunerryan at gmail.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: 09/02/2010 01:55 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] another old PSO Wow, Wim! $7500 should be enough to completely rebuild the front action! I knew things were more expensive in Hawaii, but this seems a little extreme to me. Maybe I'm just cheap! On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 4:52 PM, <tnrwim at aol.com> wrote: Paul This lady trusts you to get the work done. I would estimate on the higher side. (new h/s/f, and reg. is going be around $7500). But instead of you doing the work, take the action home and ask Larry and/or Richard (or Rachel), how much they would charge you to do the bench work. Then, when they're done, take the action back. She'll never know the difference, but she'll be happy, you've made some money, and so have Larry or Richard/Rachel. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu> To: CAUTlist <caut at ptg.org>; pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Wed, Sep 1, 2010 12:55 pm Subject: [pianotech] another old PSO Hi all, Just went to a usual customer with a beautiful 9'2" Bluthner at a church - 3 years old which I love to take care of. the pastor's sister asked me to check out her DH Baldwin about 25 years old and its a POS or PSO as you may wish to term it. She is willing to spend thousands on it rather than getting a new piano as $4-5K is better than $15K for a new PSO. What do I tell her?. Its a DH Baldwin, somebody filed the hammers off flat, somebody else ruined the shanks, the hammer bushings are shot, it barely plays, etc. Is it toast, or would $4-5K fix it if she reallyy wants to keep this thing as she's very attached to it? The geometry is way out, and you know....it's a mid '80's Samick. I didn't check the action brackets, or anything really...I just wanted to leave! I just looked for free and told her I would get back to her with some good techs in the not so near area (there are none) that might have time to do this sort of thing. I'm too busy at UNL to handle this sort of thing, and our director would not look nicely on my bringing in a "stray" piano from the wilderness unless.......$$$$$ donated to the SOM (maybe then, so) this is an "In Shop" project, to be sure. Is it worth it? Believe me the Bluthner is my favorite in NE! If you were a mechanic working on Fords, would you drive 1.5 hours to work on a Ferrari? what a fantasic piano! I LOVE working on this piano. It's my favorite in the state! It might truely be the best piano in NE. Best, Paul -- Ryan Sowers, RPT Puget Sound Chapter Olympia, WA www.pianova.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100902/b261f107/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC