Thank you Ron for the imput. I wish we had more examples of your work in the area here! In only a general way I was comparing the complete cost of buying an old instrument that is thoroughly rebuilt, not simply the cost of rebuilding a piano we already own. I admit to not being exactly current with these costs, but I have seen beautifully remanufactured and refinished old grands for sale at prices comparable to new. thanks again, Dennis. On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 12:18 PM, Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote: > On 10/12/2010 11:05 AM, Dennis Johnson wrote: > >> Hi Cy- >> >> Thanks, and good point of course. I think the faculty were hoping I >> could find some concrete examples of old, rebuilt pianos in a similar >> heavy use environment as new Japanese or Steinway pianos. >> > > There are hundreds of them out there. A bunch of educational facilities > routinely rebuild old instruments as well as buying new. > > > > If there is >> such an example it would be interesting, 20 years down the road, but I >> agree with you. Nothing against the new inventory, but one should not >> presume they will outlast in every case. >> > > There's no reason new will outlast rebuilt in ANY case. The perishables, > such as actions, pinblocks, strings, soundboards, and bridge caps (etc.) are > replaced with a decent rebuild. Carcasses and plates are as long lasting in > older pianos as in new. A thorough rebuild should be as good as new, only > with the opportunity to improve a few things in the rebuild. > > > > Neither are the rebuilds >> necessarily a cost savings. >> > > I don't understand this. How can spending 30K resurrecting pianos that sell > from 60K-120K new not be a cost savings over buying new? > > > > This semester we just enrolled the largest new class in the history of >> the college. Sounds like others are doing the same. >> > > Yet few institutions seem to have a budget for piano rebuild or > replacement. I tune for a college here that has spent vast quantities > replacing the HVAC system, and ignored humidity control altogether. Then > they complained that the pianos still weren't staying in tune. This year, > they replaced the track and football field. EVERYTHING is new, fence to > fence. Had to have cost a bundle. They somehow managed to omit the box > office from the plans though, and will be working on tables set up outside > in the cold and wet in the upcoming season. Their pianos are bottom of the > barrel. They have one Kawai grand that is somewhat decent, and a few new > Yamaha verticals in practice rooms. The rest have needed rebuilt for many > years, but there's no money for doing even the main hall B. > Ron N > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20101012/99649f65/attachment.htm>
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