Water Damage & Insurance

[Farrell]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Did I miss anything? Just was looking to see if some experience would agree with me. Thank you very much Wim. All that you mentioned will be exactly my approach. I also agree that I only assume that the piano will end up being junked and the her insurance company will buy her a new "cheepie" micro-grand. It would really be a shame to fix it because then you would have this small, but nice, belly (I hope!) but this horrid little aged action (looks pretty much all original). But I find it difficult to see this happening. Heck, maybe she will even prefer one of those new-fangled spit-shined pianos over her satin brown walnut Estey!

Thanks for taking the time to respond Wim.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Wimblees@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 11:32 PM
Subject: Re: Water Damage & Insurance


> In a message dated 2/5/02 10:15:13 PM !!!First Boot!!!, 
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes:
> 
> 
> > So, here finally is the question(s). She has a replacement-type policy, so 
> > she wants it fixed right. I need to provide her insurance company a cost 
> > estimate for soundboard replacement (obviously, the cost is going to exceed 
> > the value of the piano, which I would place around $3,000 - and will even 
> > likely exceed the cost of piano replacement (with one of similar quality). 
> > I guess one has to limit proposed repairs to that which may be caused by 
> > water damage. So we have soundboard. I suppose the bridge is not damaged 
> > (are we worried about the cap peeling off?). To get to the soundboard, we 
> > need to remove strings - ain't nobody gonna get me to put half-rusted plain 
> > wires back on, so new plain strings. What about the bass strings? They 
> > sound OK - like you would expect on such a piano - but not tubby. Do we 
> > propose to re-use the bass strings? What about the pinblock? Certainly 
> > restringing will cause some wear-and-tear to the pinblock.
> > 
> > Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
> > 
> > Terry Farrell
> > 
> > 
> Terry
> 
> When replacing the soundboard, you need to remove the plate. In order to get 
> the plate out, you need to remove the strings. All of them. Yes, you could 
> maybe save the bass strings, but to uncoil them, and have half of the break, 
> is not worth it. The labor to do that is not going to be less than buying a 
> new set of bass strings. Don't even mention the idea of using the old 
> strings. Just say that the strings need to be replaced. Period. 
> 
> The Pin block. Expect the same to happen to it as happen to the soundboard. 
> In other words, with a new soundboard comes a new pin block and new strings 
> and pins. You also need to add new damper felts, because the old ones will 
> probably have rust on them, if they are not hard from the humidity. I think 
> the only thing you could save are the bridges. 
> 
> The cost of doing all of this is going to far more than the value of the 
> piano. The cost of doing all of this might even be more expensive that buying 
> a new Samick grand, unless you can convince them the piano is equivalent to a 
> Weber, or even a Baldwin.  In any case, if the cost of repairs exceeds the 
> cost of a new grand, (and they might be able to get wholesale), the insurance 
> company might give the customer the money for a new piano, and take her 
> piano. The problem is, it won't look like the old Estey. So she'll have to 
> negotiate that. 
> 
> Be sure to explain to the customer that anything less than what I just 
> mentioned will NOT put the piano back in the shape it was before the flood. 
> The insurance company might also try to find someone who will dry out the 
> piano, "fix" the soundboard, polish the strings, and give it a quick tuning. 
> But that won't repair the damage. So be firm about this. 
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Wim  
> 
> 
>