People have different reasons for holding on to things. There have been times that I have opted not to or talked people out of a project because the piano really had no potential. But many pianos are capable of being decent instruments even if the cost can’t be justified in terms of the value of the final product. So as long as you honestly explain the arguments for and against, outline costs, value and put a disclaimer in the estimate proposal then if it ain’t me it’s gonna be someone else. May as well be me. I can’t really comment on the specifics of a Howard Grand per se. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of wimblees at aol.com Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 7:09 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Commercial value vs. sentimental value David Same scenario as you just stated, but it's a same vintage Howard grand. Would you rebuild it, even if the customer begged? Same scenario, (except for the soundboard)*, but it's a 1920 Settergrin explayer upright. Wim * see next post. -----Original Message----- From: David Love <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 2:01 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] Commercial value vs. sentimental value It’s our job to provide them with information so that they can make an informed decision. I’ve done several heirloom type jobs where the piano was not worth it as a spec job but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a fine instrument out it or that there might be other considerations. I’m about to start work on a small Knabe for someone--similar situation. Needs a soundboard, new action, new finish. I was quite up front about what it would take, what it would cost, what it would be worth on the open market and what they would have in terms of a musical instrument (Knabes make nice rebuilding/redesign pianos). It’s a family piano and when it’s done will be able to be passed down for a long time. Not only that, it will sound and perform great. The fact that the market pays more attention to the fall board than the performance in determining value is unfortunate but it doesn’t always preclude creating a fine musical instrument. David Love <http://www.davidlovepianos.com/> www.davidlovepianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090410/29a5af29/attachment.html>
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