> The money isn't there in the top end but the quality often is. At least it was quality a hundred years ago. Now it's a ghost of it's former potential. > Occasionally someone is willing to put 12K or so to restore an old > piece, then you got a job. Not in Wichita Kansas, you don't. I've talked to a thousand people about doing a real resurrection on the treasured family upright, and in thirty years, have yet to run into anyone willing to entertain spending more than a couple of thousand and yes, that of course includes refinishing. Refinishing is always the first and often the only consideration. There have been enough piano folks around willing to do minimal work for maximum return, that the owners will usually find someone to take their money and produce the illusion that the piano has been "fixed". >If I weren't a tech and I inherited an old > upright along with xhundred thousand dollars from Grandma, I just might > be compelled to restore her old piano. Here, if Grandma had xhundred thousand dollars to bequeath, she also bloody well had either a grand, or a Whitney spinet. >The wife doesn't > want that old thing in the house unless it's restored. And when she hears the price, instantly consigns it to the Salvation Army or church for a write off of 1500% of it's "sentimental" value. > I'm not looking > for those jobs, but they do come along. > Fenton Should one come along, I'd do it too, but I'm not holding my breath. Ron N
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC