[pianotech] Vesey Player info

[Rob McCall]

What?!?!?!?  Rex the Wonder Dog is dead?!?!?  When did that happen?  :-(

Thanks for the honest feedback Ron.  I really believe that the right choice is to move on, but I'm a sentimental guy, too (Maybe that's why I only have 1 car in a 3 car garage...  hmmm).

I'll try and go with an open mind but I fear the worst. She inherited the piano in 1997 and hasn't tuned it since she got it (who knows how long it was before that!). She was playing the other day and broke a couple of bass strings (near the hitch pin) and figured it was time to have it tuned, etc. Plus she says it sounds like an old barroom piano... the piano has a lot of history and it was her favorite grandmother's piano, etc. and she talked about restoring it some day but she has a budget, etc.

I know the one thing the piano probably needs is a fork lift and a large dumpster, but I told her I'd take a look at it and let her know.  It's not a big problem for me since she just lives around the corner, I could practically walk there. I'm not doing anything other than evaluating it.

So either they are understanding of the situation or I have to buy a whole bunch more CA.

Thanks again,

Rob McCall

On Dec 01, 2010, at 19:55 , Ron Nossaman wrote:

> On 12/1/2010 8:01 PM, Rob McCall wrote:
>> Greetings,
>> 
>> I have an evaluation tomorrow of a player piano (player parts have
>> been removed many years ago) that has the name "Vesey" and a serial
>> number of 154005.
> 
> Sorry, it's not a player. Absence of the player makes it just another old long dead upright.
> 
> 
>> It belonged to the client's grandmother and has tremendous
>> sentimental value to the client.  Her grandmother had quit high
>> school to work and buy this piano to support her brother's vaudeville
>> act and had received a lot of use.
> 
> Still an old long dead upright. They didn't try to keep Rex the Wonder Dog going for sixty years past his death, did they?
> 
> 
>> Anyway, the client inherited this piano and would like to "fix it up"
>> and tune it. She is looking for any information (age, manufactured,
>> etc.) that she can find.  She believes it is from the Memphis area.
> 
> "Fix it up"? This definition will be the core of the matter.
> 
> 
>> I looked in the Pierce Piano Atlas (12th edition) and the name isn't
>> even in there. I found some references on a google search to talks
>> with Baldwin, but this company's name isn't listed with Baldwin.
>> Other than a few hits here and there, there isn't much info I can
>> find...
> 
> Unless someone famous threw up in it, and there is specific documentation to that effect, I'd be amazed if you found anything even general about it's history. In any case, the history (unless...) is totally irrelevant to making it into a piano. If it's an item of family reverence, load it with pictures, light candles, and enshrine it as is, and as cheaply as possible. If they want an instrument, price a full resurrection. If they want an instrument and a player, double the estimate and call me. I can likely build you a player for it.
> 
> Reality, at some point, will have to be addressed here. Be kind, but truthful and thorough. Or blow out the chunks, file the hammers, dip the rest in CA, and get the check cashed as quickly as possible.
> 
> There's a LOAD of customer education needed here.
> Ron N
>