To me ,what its worth depends on its musical potential and that means what condition is the soundboard, cracks or no cracks. IS it producing sustain is my question. Does ti speak well. The rest is elementary in terms of rebuilding. It looks really good for 1929, and ya know.... I don't recall any walnut cases EVER from that time frame. I thought it was made in the 50s by its appearances Dale Dale S. Erwin www.Erwinspiano.com Custom piano restoration Ronsen piano hammers-sales R & D and tech support Sitka soundboard panels 209-577-8397 209-985-0990 -----Original Message----- From: tnrwim at aol.com To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Wed, Oct 27, 2010 8:00 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] Steinway M ballpark value How old is the piano? Why do you want to rebuild it? It looks pretty darn good as it is. If you want the experience, I would find a "cheap" grand to practice on first. The price is between you and the customer. You have a price in mind. So does the customer. If she likes you're price, you've got a deal. If she doesn't, negotiate. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Daniel Carlton <carltonpiano at sbcglobal.net> To: Pianotech mailing list <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Wed, Oct 27, 2010 4:49 pm Subject: [pianotech] Steinway M ballpark value hi everyone i'm looking for some ballpark values for a Steinway that belongs to a customer. pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55264825@N08/ (there are six pages of pictures) i'm thinking of purchasing it for rebuilding (my first). i'd most likely replace soundboard/bridges/pinblock, action parts, and damper underlever system. keep the keys and keytops but rebush and redo the balance holes. refelt the lyre and trapwork. ...this is what i'm thinking, but i took notes on everything anyway, so: Case: the owners put new veneer in a couple of spots, then refinished with Valspar. she didn't say which product, just Valspar. the finish looks very nice overall, just one minor pea-sized spot of veneer that needs to be replaced and a handful of minor dings and a couple scratches. one thought: the finish doesn't seem to me to be as strong or resistant to dings and dents as on some other pianos i've seen. has anyone else noticed this with Valspar? would it be better off with another type of finish? Hardware: looks pretty friggin good to me. the owner did all the buffing and polishing himself when he and his wife refinished the piano. Soundboard/Bridges: they look good. bridges have just a few very short hairline cracks at the pins, extending out from the pin toward the end of the notches, but that's it. no cracks in the SB. no separated ribs. crown is anywhere from .5 to 2 mm, measured in several spots. don't have a downbearing gauge yet, so i didn't get that. Action stack/keys: has had Verdigris in the past, in the hammers. pretty light wear on everything, as you can see in the pics. some minor backchucking on a few keys. ivories look great, nice and thick, a little yellow and tiny hairline cracks at the end of a few of the heads. Pinblock/Tuning pins: PB seems very good. TPs are all nice and comfortably tight, right in the sweet spot. they are 3/0. i wonder if this piano was partly rebuilt or refurbished at some point, because the 3/O tuning pins, and the overall great condition of the piano. None of the owner's kids want the piano and neither do any of her nieces. she seems very ready to sell it to me for the right price. i have a range in my head, based on a minimum Terry Farrell told me Steinway grands might go for... Daniel -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101028/605a1c26/attachment.htm>
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