OK Dave, that setteles it. I'm moving to the west coast. Yesterday, I was the DJ and at wedding reception at the local Catholic parish hall. As I was tearing my equipment down, the custodian struck up a conversation with me, asked what I did in real life, and subsequently gave me a really nice old upright. He said "Man, I wish I had known somebody could do something with these things, I chopped another one up and put it in the dumpster last week." Unfortunately, this is a very frequent occurrence down here in Bubbaland. If they're real nice and are playable, I'll hall them off for free, otherwise, I charge 50% of my regular moving fee to haul it off. Even more unfortunate, I'm lucky to get $400 for that real nice old upright - delivered and tuned with a 1-year warranty! (Yes, that's after any repairs.) Danny Moore Houston Chapter DGPEAKE@aol.com wrote: > Danny, > > I agree with you that certain upright pianos are not worth fixing up. But I > do know that to find a good used upright that has been reconditioned (hammer > shaping, bridal straps, center pin checks, regulation, tune etc.) and the > finish is not bad, the price starts around $1500 and up. In our area they > are selling.. > > The other day I serviced a piano for a client and found several loose tuning > pins, some that would not hold pitch. The finish of the piano was fair, and > I quoted her around $3200 to restring it, and fix up the action. You cannot > not buy a new piano for the quality of what I could put into a used upright, > and in the end, she has a very good piano to play.. > > Last year I restrung an Ivers & Pond upright and rebuilt the action. The > dealer sold it for almost $4000 and the customer is very happy with the > piano.. > > Dave Peake, RPT > Portland, OR
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