1927 Mason & Hamlin A

[David Nereson]

    I don't know if this list is the proper place to sell pianos for our 
customers, but I've seen others do it.  In a way, I consider it partly a 
favor to other techs who may have customers looking for a good piano, 
like the ads in the back of the Journal.  
    And this one is quite good, in my opinion:  It's a 1927 Mason & 
Hamlin model A (5'7"), mahogany; no cracks in the board or bridges; no 
buzzing, no rattling, still has crown -- about 5/32", maybe 3/16" in the 
middle of the board, for what that's worth; long sustain time; no 
buzzing bass strings, no zinging treble strings; very little wear on 
hammers, knuckles, backchecks; very little wear of key bushings, front 
pins never been turned; it's up to pitch, I spot-checked tuning pin 
torque and it seems fine,  i.e., not as tight as a new piano, of course, 
but tight enough to hold a tuning; never been doped or had pins driven 
in.  Has original ivories and ivory key fronts.  A few little chips 
which I will attempt to fix with Acrylikey.  I'm going to vacuum it out, 
dust the soundboard and file the hammers, tighten screws & hardware, but 
not much more.  Regulation is still fairly decent considering its age.  
It does need refinishing, however -- no big scratches or gouges, but the 
finish is crazed, or checked, and "alligatored" on the long side.  It 
looks "acceptable" to "OK" in a dimly-lit room, but in the sunlight, I'm 
sure the wrinkles will show up more.  Nice tone, pretty even voicing 
even before filing hammers.
      I told the owner, an M.D. here in Denver, that it was probably 
worth roughly $6K as is, maybe $7K if reconditioned, and maybe $12K or 
so if also refinished.  Maybe even more  (?? --  I hate trying to come 
up with exact appraisal values.)

    But if somebody out-of-state is interested, doesn't it cost several 
hundred to ship it across the country?  Well, I guess I can check 
websites on these flyers I've gotten in the mail recently from Modern 
Piano Moving and Schafer Piano Movers.  Anybody else that's reasonable 
you guys/gals know of?
    --David Nereson, RPT, Denver