What to do with vandalized baby grand?

I have recently come into the possession of a baby grand. The maker's name is Stroud, and I believe it's between 60 and 80 years old (maybe more). It belonged to relatives who did not particularly care for it, and I doubt if it has been repaired or tuned in the last 40 years. The finish on top of it has been marred by many generations of idly placed drinks, food, tools, whatever. Within, the major parts seem intact and unwarped, and except for a few strings damaged by rust, most are still in place. The most damaged part of the piano is the keyboard

Telling this to folks with a piano like this is never fun. It would most likely cost you three times what the piano would be worth after the work was done to restore this piano. Anything can be rebuilt if you throw enough money at it, but there's a point where it doesn't make sense. This is one. If the keys are smashed and the action is as bad as you say, you could easily spend 12-14K or more. The piano just isn't worth it.

Larry Fletcher Dealer/technician

Doing the work of three men.....Larry, Curly, & Moe

A couple of years ago I had an old and uncared-for baby grand restored mostly because it was a family heirloom that had personal importance for me. I had the cabinet stripped and the veneer reglued and refinished. I had to have a few keys replaced, a whole new set of hammers and strings. The sound board and pin block were still good, but I gave it a complete new set of pins.

Altogether it cost me about as much as it would have cost to buy a comparable restored piano of the same quality and age. But I felt it was worth it because of the sentimental value and because I got to have the rebuild done to my specifications (which helped to increase the cost).

So the moral of the story is that you can probably have it restored. But it may or may not be worth spending the money, depending on your requirements.

K

Donate it to the Salvation Army. If they can't use it, they will sell it. You can write it off, too. If you want to keep it and make it look better, think about spending between $5 and $10,000.

G*rd*n,

If you have kids and are considering having them learn piano, I strongly recommend that you do *not* keep this piano. Trying to learn on this piano would be very frustrating. Instead of rebuilding the piano, you would be much better off buying something new with a nice consistent action (even an electronic keyboard, if it has weighted key action). Trying to play this piano (even if it is a baby grand) would most likely immediate turn a youngster away from learning to play piano. A 'shiny new' piano can make all the difference to spark a passion for music.

Of course, this advice may not apply to you, but it may apply to other readers in the newsgroup in a similar situation.

Chris

Why not get an assessment and a price quotation from a piano service firm?

I know a little about piano repair, but not much. Is the finish black or wood grained? If its wood grained it could probably be stripped, sanded and refinished decently (though maybe not as good as new unless you hired a professional). Are the actual wood parts of the keys broken or just the white tops? If its the white tops they can also be replaced. A new set of white plastic covers cost about $12.00 then you need to again strip off the old ones and glue the new ones with contact cement. Again its the labor that would get you if you didn't do it yourself. If the actual wood key 'levers' under the white caps are what is broken then you may be looking at an expensive replacement cost. I think the actual wood key levers are usually cut from a single piece of wood and that no two are exactly alike. If they are what's broken you would probably need to replace ALL the key levers which again could well be expensive!

This is just guessing though really. Depending on whether you can do any of the work yourself will greatly determine how expensive it would be, but even if it costs you a few grand, that's still not bad for a good functioning grand piano....

Your best bet would be to get a piano technician to look at it and determine if its worth the work. If the pin block is shot for example, it will never hold a tuning decently....

There are several other uses for your piano that come to mind. It might make a great doghouse or a great planter. Or, if you live near the water, you might consider getting others together with similar pianos, sink them, and create an artificial reef. If you have the great fortune of having a teenage stepchild, you might consider it turning it into his or her living space.

If it has no personal value to you as an heirloom, throw a demolition party. Invite your friends to bring some liquid libation and let them take turns beating it to smithereens with pick axes, sledge hammers, blow torches, chain saws, whatever you can come up with. It makes a great party. Say some meaningful words over the remains and drag them to the curb to be picked up by whoever hauls away your trash.

If it has sentimental value, gut it, throw away the keys and the insides, strip, sand and refinish the wood, and mount a nice electronic keyboard with a weighted action in there.

In a word: BONFIRE!

The planter has been done. An eccentric man four blocks east of my home put an ebony 8 footer in his yard and planted flowers in it several years ago. Rather made me sick. I assumed it must have needed repairs beyond its value, but I never knew for sure. The man is otherwise quite nutty, so I never knew. Took about four years for it to deteriorate to the point of collapse.

Also, perhaps you could use it as a slicer. My mover-tuner was telling me a week ago about some poor soul who went through Oklahoma's F5 tornado in May 1999. Apparently the 300 mph winds blew him right through the harp leaving him like a sliced ham.

Personally, if you're so inclined, I'd suggest rebuilding it yourself over some span of time as a hobby / learning experience.

I have a pristine 9 footer I prefer to have professionally serviced, but I also have a basically sound, good looking, old 5 footer I'm restoring myself just to learn a bit. I've regulated several of my own pianos over the years and have become quite good at achieving the eveness and lightness of touch I want while maintaining proper tone for the given instrument. Today, for the first time ever, I decided to experiment with tuning (after all the recent discussions in this group). My conclusion is that it's trickier than one might think. It's quite easy to have octaves sound good and fifths and such sound distinctly off. After a couple of hours of experimenting and hearing all sorts of interesting sound effects, I arrived at a preliminary tuning compromise much more uniform in tone from one end to the other than where the old thing started. When I bought it, I knew there where keys both murky and bright all over. I went after the action and regulation first, which turned out to be quite good already. So I went after the tuning. While I'm satisfied with the uniformity of tone (crisp without being bright) I'm not satisfied with the harmonies of pitches. (There goes my day tomorrow