<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> I enjoyed your post David.  You address some issues I have tried to cover in the FAQ page of my website <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.davidboyce.co.uk/piano-faq.php">http://www.davidboyce.co.uk/piano-faq.php</a> , and also in the Buying a Secondhand Piano page (and to some extent also on the Birdcage page). On the FAQ page I have the questions: My piano is an Antique. Is it valuable?;  My piano's really old and there are broken action parts. Can you fix it?; Were older pianos better made than modern ones?; This was my great-granny’s piano. It’s of sentimental value and I could never part with it. Can you make it good? Your post really covers the answers to all of those!  Best regards, David Boyce <blockquote type="cite">I probably get at least two calls a week inquiring about “restoring” grandma’s old upright piano.  When I run the numbers by them they are generally shocked thinking that a piano could be “restored” for $1000 - $1500.  The reality is that these pianos have a starting value of -$500 because that’s what it would cost to have someone come and haul them away.  Simple restringing, action reconditioning, cheap finish and you are into the piano for minimum of $10,000.  Now the piano is worth $1500.   While there are certainly many pianos out there that have good musical potential, the cost of manufacturing now is much lower than our own labor costs for restoration work.  While Del and others have pointed out the “value added” approach, which has validity, it’s a rare opportunity to be able to sell that.  I was sad to see them throwing out this old Knabe as I have restored several old Knabes and they make fine rebuilding pianos.  Most recently I restored an old 5’2” Knabe with a new soundboard, action, finish.  No question that the cost far exceeded the value (and the customer knew that going in), but the piano belonged to her father and she wanted it done.  Those opportunities are rare.   A new Yamaha C1 could have been purchased for less than half the cost of what it took for this piano and there are other manufacturers selling their new pianos for less than that and the reality is, they aren’t bad pianos.  The less expensive pianos of today are much better pianos than  the less expensive pianos of yesterday.       David Love</blockquote> </body> </html>