appraising Estonia 190

[Marcel Carey]

Hi Patrick,

A similar piano was given to the music department at the U of Sherbrooke for an income tax receipt. This was done against my recommandation. If the action is similar to the one here, it will need much work (the university doesn't have) to be made enjoyable. As for the sound, the one we now have is less than nice, with below standards tuning pin torque.

The price I thought it was worth was around $15K.

And I thouht I was generous. But another technician evaluated the piano at $60K, and the university used that figure for the tax receipt. Go figure...

Marcel Carey, RPT
Sherbrooke, QC
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> Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:51:21 -0500
> From: jpdraine at gmail.com
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: appraising Estonia 190
> 
> I looked at an Estonia 190 for a potential purchaser yesterday, and
> was hoping to get others' impression of the model. The serial number
> is 5062 (Pierce indicates manufactured late 1994). Purchased in 1995
> (from a Boston area dealer).
> MSRP at time of purchase $22K; current list price (according to Fine)
> $35,650. Seller hasn't named his price; his friend's daughter is the
> one considering the purchase (and contacted me to help her compose a
> reasonable offer).
> Touch is rather heavy -- a lot of the friction in the keys; a number
> of keys & hammers don't return properly when released slowly. I didn't
> have the time for detailed analysis of the action problems, but 1994
> appears to be *just before* Estonia started a serious upgrade of their
> line of pianos.
> So,the prospective buyer needs to balance the potential price of
> addressing friction, leading, and geometry problems against the price
> she's willing to offer.
> Strings are quite rusty, bass strings tarnished, bottom octave
> suffering from rattling windings.
> Other than these significant problems, it's rather nice. Decent tone,
> good pin torque, nice case, no defects in soundboard.
> I've worked on some very recent Estonias which were very, very nice.
> So, any advice from our European friends, and those of us stateside
> who have experience with Estonias of a slightly earlier era (13 years
> ago)?
> Price range?
> Thanks,
> Patrick Draine

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