<div><SPAN contentEditable=false style="DISPLAY: inline-block"></SPAN>I like Ron's assement, but in all honesty, read the second to last paragraph. It appears the buyer did a self evaluation and appraising, based on books and articles he read.   </div> <div> </div> <div>I have run across people like this who claim the previous tooner offered $5000 for the piano. I quickly tell them to contact the tooner and get his money. The other "appraisal" I've heard is: My neighbor's son's roomate's father moved pianos for a local dealer when he was in college, and he, (the neighbor, who now has a lineage that supposedly has some merit), claims the piano is worth.....</div> <div> </div> <div>On a serious note, appraising pianos can be very difficult. One does have to have a knowledge of current market prices of both new and use pianos, and a knowledge of what it takes to recondition, or even rebuild a piano. Not all RPT's want to get in the business of appraising, just as not all RPT's want to get in the business of working on players, much less organs. But somehow the public thinks we should know about all keyboard instruments, just because we work on pianos. </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div>Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT<br> Piano Tuner/Technician<br> Honolulu, HI<br> Author of <br> The Business of Piano Tuning<br> available from Potter Press<br> www.pianotuning.com</div> <div><br> </div> -----Original Message-----<br> From: paul bruesch <paul@bruesch.net><br> To: Pianotech List <pianotech@ptg.org><br> Sent: Mon, Oct 22 9:58 PM<br> Subject: Re: buying a piano on the Internet<br> <br> <div id=AOLMsgPart_2_b8afad70-0834-4881-8b41-9c0201cb0cf2>I'm wondering if the appraiser was an RPT.<br> <br> <div><SPAN class=gmail_quote>On 10/22/07, <B class=gmail_sendername>David and Jean Weiss</B> <<A href="mailto:djweiss@ntelos.net">djweiss@ntelos.net</A>> wrote: </SPAN> <BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid"> <div bgcolor="#ffffff"> <div><FONT face=Arial size=2>A client of mine forwarded me this advertisement for a piano he was considering buying.  If you're in the mood to laugh read on.</FONT></div> <div><FONT face=Arial size=2>David Weiss</FONT></div> <div><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </div> <div> </div> <div>Description of Piano from seller:<br> ...the piano is a <SPAN name="st">Beckwith</SPAN> Semi-Concert Grand Upright, manufactured in 1898. The appraiser rated it in very good condition.  I will just tell you some of the things that he noted.  The piano is an antique and will have additional antique value because  of the carving and the cost to restore.  It was totally refinished about 20 years ago and has been maintained in a climate controlled home. The value of this piano is $3250.00 based on age, condition, size, grade and rarity of the instrument.  <SPAN name="st">Beckwith</SPAN> pianos were made for Sears Roebuck.  Grands, Uprights and Players made by different manufacturers marketed by Sears, who claim to have sold as many as 15,000 annually between 1883-1922.  Due to their towering height, these instruments usually had string lengths and musical capabilities equal and often superior to actual grand pianos, thus being labeled "Upright Grand" or "Cabinet Concert Grand" by their manufacturers.<br>   Unique and distinctive features of construction will be found in the <SPAN name="st">Beckwith</SPAN> Semi Concert Grand piano; the most important of those special features is the sounding board construction which includes the <SPAN name="st">Beckwith</SPAN> semi Concert Grand bent acoustic rim. This gives the <SPAN name="st">Beckwith</SPAN> upright the tone of a grand piano and makes it especially well adapted for concert use. <br>   "Cabinet Grand" is a term usually referring to certain large upright pianos over 50" tall. ( this piano is 57" tall, 67" wide, and 28" deep ).  A 52" upright provides as much total soundboard area as a 7' grand piano.  Its #1 bass string's length nearly matches that of a 6'3"grand.  In other words, you get grand piano performance quality in a vertical instrument.<br>    The appraisal values are stated in U.S. dollars and are based on market values from several sources.  Based on comparisons of pianos of this age, condition and nature offered for sale in newspapers and the Internet by private parties, music stores, auction houses and piano teachers.  These values are certified through research in directories of the Music Industry, such as, The Presto Piano Buyers Guide, The Pierce Musical Instrument Atlas, The Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments and The Bluebook of Pianos, and the Piano Times Newspaper<br>    Hope this isn't too much info!  The piano is very nice and in very good condition.  I will say that we haven't had it tuned for awhile....our son who played it the most has been away at college and then we decided not to tune it since we were going to sell it.  It is not badly out of tune, though.  It also has 2 or 3 soft keys, which could be adjusted by the tuner. <br> </div> </div> </BLOCKQUOTE></div> <br> </div> <div class="AOLPromoFooter"> <hr style="margin-top:10px;" /> Email and AIM finally together. 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