[pianotech] 1904 Starr Upright

[Dale Erwin]

  Out here in the sunshine state we see many fairly wel preserved relics. There isn't enough left in the picture of the burned up piano to have any idea about it. I do know that square arms/cheeks were not typical of that age. Round is the order of uprights 1895 to 1910 ish.
 I can get em for free all day long.

Either way, I know it's not much, but I wanted to make sure I got it right... The owner is claiming it's worth enough for me to go out and buy a brand new Steinway M...  :-)



Dale Erwin R.P.T.
Erwin's Piano Restoration Inc.
 Mason & Hamlin/Steinway/U.S. pianos
www.Erwinspiano.com
Phone: 209-577-8397

 
  





-----Original Message-----
From: John Formsma <formsma at gmail.com>
To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Tue, Jun 26, 2012 6:31 am
Subject: Re: [pianotech] 1904 Starr Upright


The Starr uprights here in Mississippi are all "toast" just from our weather cycles. I can't remember for sure if I've seen one from the early 1900's, but the later ones I'd definitely consider on the lower end for durability since they were always dead on my arrival. They maybe were mid-grade at one time, but I'd group them in with all the other many uprights of their time. Lots of design copying going on back then....


The owner is nuts to think it would even be closer to a Steinway M. Quote me on that if you want to. :-)


-- 

John Formsma, RPT

Blue Mountain, MS


 

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 1:17 AM, Rob McCall <rob at mccallpiano.com> wrote:

Greetings,


I was called in to do an appraisal for what was supposed to have been smoke damage on a 1904 Starr Upright (Made in Indiana).  I'll let the photos speak for themselves as to the level of "smoke" damage.  :-)


They said that when they went to move the piano out of the house, it fell apart on them.  No surprise there, given that the piano was on fire and the fire department had to put it out.  These pictures are more for your amusement... :-)


My real question is this...  They want to know what it would cost to replace this piano with an identical 1904 Starr upright for insurance purpose, and what might be a comparable upright today. I have a pretty good idea of the various grades the new upright could be, but I'm not sure where this piano stood in it's day as far as the quality and prestige of the piano.  


So would this piano have been at the lower end, middle or higher end of the spectrum?  I'm guessing one of the first two by appearances but I wanted to appeal to the group as a whole to get a collective idea. Anyone have any Starr experience?


Either way, I know it's not much, but I wanted to make sure I got it right... The owner is claiming it's worth enough for me to go out and buy a brand new Steinway M...  :-)




Regards,


Rob McCall







 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20120626/bef3fb52/attachment.htm>