[pianotech] Spinets - was Elbows

[Joseph Garrett]

Terry,
(I hope you don't mind, but this is a good discussion on the subject, so
I'm posting it on the list.<G>)

Agreed. But, that was not the way you were presenting it/your attitude on
the list. <G> The market is such that those, that you cite, cannot be sold
for what they are really worth. That condition, I hope and suspect, will
not continue. It's in the toilet now, can't get any lower, imo. It should
go back up, if the past is any indicator.<G>
Now, my point: there are many really well built spinets/consoles, out
there, that have a lot of plastic parts problems. It is my contention that
those, even tho one cannot sell them for what you have to put in them,
(now), are well worth the effort of putting plastic to wood. As opposed to
the Chinese "entry level" crap that a lot consider a viable alternative,
which, imo, they are not!
Best, 
Joe


> [Original Message]
> From: Terry Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com>
> To: <joegarrett at earthlink.net>
> Date: 11/24/2012 8:11:20 AM
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Spinets - was Elbows
>
> For example the 1968 Yamaha spinet one of my clients is selling. Very
nice piano in excellent condition $700. A while back I tuned a very good to
excellent condition Kimball console - I hate those pianos generally, but
this one was very clean, in good regulation, and played and sounded pretty
good for what it was - they paid $400 for it. Another lady a while back - I
recommended she send her old falling apart upright to the junk yard - she
calls me up a few months later to tune her new-to-her piano - a ten year
old, showroom condition, fancy case Baldwin console with the original sales
receipt - I seem to recall it was somewhere between $5K and $7K new - she
paid $900 for it.
>
> These are examples of what I would call a cost effective alternative to
patching up a sorry excuse for a piano. Keep in mind that these are
consoles and spinets - all I'm saying is that many older spinets (or any
piano type) are very worn out and have enough problems such that you will
still have a poor-playing, poor-sounding piano after spending $500 to $1K.
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> On Nov 23, 2012, at 9:58 PM, Joseph Garrett wrote:
>
> > O.K. Please name some of these "...more cost effective alternatives." ??
> > I'd love to know what they are.<G>
> > Joe aka The Curmudge