Ivory keys on my my piano.

Dudeman1967

Dudeman1967

blah, blah, blah...
It's time to make a decision about my piano. It needs a few thousand dollars at a minimum in repairs to get and keep at 440.
It's been around my whole life but I don't have great sentimental attachment. A complete rebuild might be way more than I want to spend.

It is almost a hundred years old. It has a real "honky tonk" patina, It has a cool shape for a baby grand.

It has Ivory keys which changes my calculations. I think. Is there any real value in ivory as a player? Does it give a decent resale value?
I know there are laws against trading ivory. If I trashed the piano I would remove the keys for other repairs but I don't think I can sell them. The repair guy I called was not clear and I don't fully trust his motives.

Otherwise I need to move it again and I don't want to pay to repair or move if it has no value.

My other plan is to burn it in a huge backyard funeral pyre. Might make for a great party.

Any ivory trade experts in here?
 
we all know that people are the same wherever you go. there is good and bad in everyone. we learn to live when we learn to give each other what we need to survive, together, alive.

ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony side by side on my piano keyboard. oh lord, why can't we?
 
smurfco said:
we all know that people are the same wherever you go. there is good and bad in everyone. we learn to live when we learn to give each other what we need to survive, together, alive.

ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony side by side on my piano keyboard. oh lord, why can't we?
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Don't notes NOT next to each other sound more pleasing together? (on the piano)
 
jrockbridge said:
If it were professionally restored, it could be worth $4000 to $8000.
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Thanks for the information. It's very helpful.


I have a repair guy coming tomorrow. I got some rough numbers from him but obviously he needs to see it.
Could possibly get it to pitch and stable by repairing the tuning board (?) for about $2K. Replace strings or partial replacement for another $2K. I think the action is still good and the hammers are fine, We'll see what the expert says.
At first it seems like a lot. And it IS a lot, but my last guitar was almost 6K used. Kind of reset my brain and wallet. I just want more certainty at the higher estimate that it doesn't keep climbing. I expected that it would be a labor of love and not a great investment from the start. Hope to know more tomorrow.

$4K for a nice sounding baby grand sounds awesome. I bet I could get a newer, "nicer" one for free but it woudn't have the mojo.
 
Dudeman1967 said:
Thanks for the information. It's very helpful.


I have a repair guy coming tomorrow. I got some rough numbers from him but obviously he needs to see it.
Could possibly get it to pitch and stable by repairing the tuning board (?) for about $2K. Replace strings or partial replacement for another $2K. I think the action is still good and the hammers are fine, We'll see what the expert says.
At first it seems like a lot. And it IS a lot, but my last guitar was almost 6K used. Kind of reset my brain and wallet. I just want more certainty at the higher estimate that it doesn't keep climbing. I expected that it would be a labor of love and not a great investment from the start. Hope to know more tomorrow.

$4K for a nice sounding baby grand sounds awesome. I bet I could get a newer, "nicer" one for free but it woudn't have the mojo.
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"$4K for a nice sounding baby grand sounds awesome. I bet I could get a newer, "nicer" one for free but it woudn't have the mojo."

When I had to get my 70s transistor Hammond out of my garage, busted it up and eventually made a cab for the internal Leslie, I started at Talk Bass because, I had questions about making a cab for the 15" woofer for bass. The first response was somebody scolding me for not donating it to a music school or Goodwill or, similar. Then there were a bunch of responses that you can't give them away. Also mentioned, Upright pianos and Grand pianos that you can't give away. So, yes you could absolutely upgrade for free plus moving expense of the better piano.

You also can't put a price on sentimental value. I imagine a piano is just like a guitar that you had way back and was with you and reminds you of very precious things that happened in your life.
 
From experience, I can tell you getting rid of an old piano is easier said than done.
We had an old one in the house we purchased in NH.
We didn't have the room for it, and it ended up in the barn, since that's about as far as I could roll it, even with two helpers.

My original plan was to get it fixed up and possibly sell it. I don't remember what brand it was, but like yours, it was probably around 100 years old. It was in decent shape, but horribly out of tune. I'm sure the keys were ivory. Ours was an upright, though, not a baby grand.

I had a guy look at it, and his advice was that unless I was going to keep it and use it (nobody plays in my family) was to try to give it away. IOW, it wasn't worth the time/effort/parts necessary to get it into playing shape.
I asked everyone I knew if they wanted it, and lots of people said they did, but when it came time to actually moving it, everyone scattered like cockroaches when the light gets turned on.
I ended up calling schools, churches, the old folks home, etc...anyone I could think of that might want a piano. Again, lots of people said they wanted it, but nobody wanted to move it.
I looked at Craigslist and there were more free pianos than there were ones for sale. They all said "If you can move it, you can have it."
Ours ended up in the barn.
It seems a shame, but that's the truth. Ours probably weighed over 500lbs, and it was an upright. I can't even imagine what a baby grand weighs.
Guess that's why there are companies that specialize in moving pianos.

I'd start pursuing the bonfire idea, though the thought of those strings snapping due to heat is truly frightening. Deadly.
 
Dudeman1967 said:
Thanks for the information. It's very helpful.


I have a repair guy coming tomorrow. I got some rough numbers from him but obviously he needs to see it.
Could possibly get it to pitch and stable by repairing the tuning board (?) for about $2K. Replace strings or partial replacement for another $2K. I think the action is still good and the hammers are fine, We'll see what the expert says.
At first it seems like a lot. And it IS a lot, but my last guitar was almost 6K used. Kind of reset my brain and wallet. I just want more certainty at the higher estimate that it doesn't keep climbing. I expected that it would be a labor of love and not a great investment from the start. Hope to know more tomorrow.

$4K for a nice sounding baby grand sounds awesome. I bet I could get a newer, "nicer" one for free but it woudn't have the mojo.
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Piano mojo ain't the same as guitar mojo
 
Bob411 said:
"My other plan is to burn it in a huge backyard funeral pyre. Might make for a great party."

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what a sad and outrageously stupid thing to do

A piano that's in tune, like that one reasonably was based on the people playing it, has around 20 tons of pressure on the cast-iron frame from the strings. If that frame's integrity is compromised you certainly don't wanna be anywhere near it. And you also don't want it to be on fucking fire when it happens

Just another reason to hate burning man and all of the people who attend it
 
In the shape your piano is in right now, it may not be worth much. I think you should check to see what people are giving away, or selling for cheap. If you can get a different baby grand piano, in better shape, for less than it would cost to restore yours, maybe that’s the better option. Of course, you’d have to consider the cost of moving a piano into your home, perhaps having it tuned, and the cost of getting rid of your old piano.

Even though having your piano professionally restored would raise its value by thousands of dollars that does not mean it would be easy to sell for what it’s worth. As has already been pointed out, it an be difficult to give a piano away these days, much less sell one.
 
Just had a repair guy over. He took it apart and inpected everything. It is in pretty good shape for a 98 year old piano.
There are some neat features to this piano I never knew. I'm going to keep it and have it restored. Found several 1969 pennies in it also. Might have been my work.

It's neat that it predates the phillips screwdriver. It is made of mahagony covered in lacquer. Maybe I'll try a French polish. The sound board is Spruce and in perfect shape.

I'm going to have it restrung and the tuning pegs and bushings replaced. The hammers will be replaced. It will be a labor of love but thye just don't build them like this anymore.

I'm looking at close to $8K
 
Dudeman1967 said:
Just had a repair guy over. He took it apart and inpected everything. It is in pretty good shape for a 98 year old piano.
There are some neat features to this piano I never knew. I'm going to keep it and have it restored. Found several 1969 pennies in it also. Might have been my work.

It's neat that it predates the phillips screwdriver. It is made of mahagony covered in lacquer. Maybe I'll try a French polish. The sound board is Spruce and in perfect shape.

I'm going to have it restrung and the tuning pegs and bushings replaced. The hammers will be replaced. It will be a labor of love but thye just don't build them like this anymore.

I'm looking at close to $8K
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$8000 is a lot of money to spend. Chances are you’ll never get that money back if you need to sell the piano. If you’re ok with it, then you’re spending the money strictly for your enjoyment.

Personally, I’d be checking the used market to see if I could find a baby grand for sale that’s in better shape. I’d be checking to see if I could find one for $4000 to $6000 or less. But, I’m always shopping for a great value.
 
You could get a used Yamaha for cheap or a Steinway for a bit more than $8k, both in excellent condition. Maybe, you should check local listings.

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I have no intention to sell it. I know it is not a great investment.

I could get away with about $4K in repairs but the more he dissassembled the thing the more I liked it. There are a lot of "old school" ways of doing things and I want to preserve that. He never worked on a century old piano that didn't have a cracked soundboard. Seeing the brass parts and buckskin leather pieces. He found pennies from the late 1960s. I prolly did that.

He played some rag time on it and I was actually excited to hear it play

I'm not overly sentimental but I did do jig saw puzzles with my grandmother under that piano. I used to climb on it and jump to the couch from this piano. My son played it in grade school. Maybe he will want it when he gets his own place.

I couldn't dare burn it in the back yard now.
 
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