[pianotech] To restore, or not to restore, there's the question

[Chuck Behm]

Ok, concerning whether to restore or not to restore, here’s a case in point.
I just tuned a piano this morning, for lack of a more polite term, a crappy
spinet (brand W, if you catch my drift). It will not hold a tuning, even
after 3 separate applications of Loc-Tite over the last 4 years. It’s the
dry, heated air during the Iowa winters that does it. The finish of the
piano is shot – a sprayed on lacquer that been sun-damaged to the point
where it’s peeling off. The keytops are cracking from side to side.

            The customer, a lady whom is a bit older than me (although I’m
smart enough not to ask for her specific age) inquired about what could be
done. She’s got a tax refund coming and would like to put it towards fixing
the piano like new.

            Understand, please, that this type of instrument is not my cup
of tea. It has no style at all, with tapered dowel legs. The only thing at
all good about it is the tone, which is surprisingly good for a spinet for a
short time at least after it is tuned.

            She seemed earnest in her request to know, however, so I listed
some of the obvious repairs we could do if the piano were brought to our
shop. New, brushed on polyurethane finish. New keytops (she liked the satin,
off-white sample). Ream with size 3 drill and repin with size 4 pins (since
the tone is really good with the present strings, I would leave them alone).
File the hammers, regulate and retune several times. I got out my estimate
book and added the numbers. $3385. She was not at all taken aback at this.

            I asked her about the history of the piano. It was given to her,
it seems, on the occasion of her 7th birthday, by her dad, who then a month
later went off to fight in the Korean War and got shot. He came home in a
box. She had tears in her eyes as she told me the story. I got the feeling
that the passage of more than 50 years had not deadened the pain.

            Value of the piano? Commercially, as is, next to nothing. Pianos
such as this are given away in our shopper all the time. With the work done,
I don’t know, but I’m guessing not a lot. Maybe $500. $1000? It’s hard for
me to say, since this is not the type of piano I would ever bring into my
shop with the thought of reconditioning and reselling.

            So, so here’s the question. Do I fix it or not? It’s definitely
not a piano I’m in love with. Do I tell my customer that I’m sorry but it’s
not worth fixing, or do I use my talents to try and make her piano look and
sound the way it did the day she came home from the 2nd grade and found it
in her bedroom with a big red satin bow on it?

            Your call.              Chuck
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