[pianotech] 1904 Starr Upright

[Terry Farrell]

I owned a 1920-something Starr upright - that was the piano I learned to tune on. IMHO, it was a middle-of-the-road quality piano for its time - however, I have always thought that pianos built back then were generally of better average quality than what you see now - pretty much all of them were good quality. Today we see a broader range of quality - many good, some okay and some (many?) poor quality.

So with that said, and being willing to stick my neck out some, I'd venture to say that the quality of a 1904 Starr upright WAS (and I mean when it was new) perhaps a notch below a new Yamaha U-3 or so - maybe the equivalent of an average Korean upright or a good Chinese upright.

Value equal to a new S&S M? I don't think so.

Terry Farrell


On Jun 26, 2012, at 2:17 AM, Rob McCall wrote:

> Greetings,
> 
> I was called in to do an appraisal for what was supposed to have been smoke damage on a 1904 Starr Upright (Made in Indiana).  I'll let the photos speak for themselves as to the level of "smoke" damage.  :-)
> 
> They said that when they went to move the piano out of the house, it fell apart on them.  No surprise there, given that the piano was on fire and the fire department had to put it out.  These pictures are more for your amusement... :-)
> 
> My real question is this...  They want to know what it would cost to replace this piano with an identical 1904 Starr upright for insurance purpose, and what might be a comparable upright today. I have a pretty good idea of the various grades the new upright could be, but I'm not sure where this piano stood in it's day as far as the quality and prestige of the piano.  
> 
> So would this piano have been at the lower end, middle or higher end of the spectrum?  I'm guessing one of the first two by appearances but I wanted to appeal to the group as a whole to get a collective idea. Anyone have any Starr experience?
> 
> Either way, I know it's not much, but I wanted to make sure I got it right... The owner is claiming it's worth enough for me to go out and buy a brand new Steinway M...  :-)
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Rob McCall
> 
> McCall Piano Service, LLC
> www.mccallpiano.com
> Murrieta, CA
> 951-698-1875
> 
> <IMG_2307.jpeg>
> 
> 
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