For several years, I held the keys to empty buildings for a large real estate holding company. They paid me a monthly retainer to be available if someone wanted to look at their buildings. One of these was a former department store, where I began to store pianos that I hauled away for parts, along with a couple of potential rebuilds. When the building finally sold, I had to dispose of them. Some went to my mother-in-law's garage, but thirteen had come to their final hour. We (my Dad and I) pulled all the actions (four used for a reshaping class!), popped of the castors, grabbed the pedals, unscrewed the keybeds, knocked off the sides (with 1 or 2 hits of a sledgehammer), leaving the strung backs. The look on the guy's face at the landfill's gate was worth the price, though. I told him I had thirteen piano carcasses. Ka-whang! Thunk! Ka-piiinnnngggg! BTW, it isn't worth getting the plate out for scrap, I did that once. Took me more than a day and netted me a whopping $1.75. I will also say, however, that I disagree with the contention that ALL old uprights deserve a decent burial, today. Caveat: weather in western Washington is much kinder to pianos than other parts of the country. I find some pianos ultimately rebuildable. When I look at one with extreme sentimental value, I am inclined to reccomend doing more work than otherwise. Many of these people will never part with these pianos, and if we do a good job, future generations will rise and call us blessed with foresight for giving them a good instrument. Nearly every piano tech I have ever met started out as a perfectionist. Welcome to the real world. For every new piano sold, ten used pianos change hands. To be intelligent business people, we need to get a piece of both of those markets. I tune new pianos for a dealer; I do appraisals and estimates for buyers of used instruments; I move pianos; I rebuild; I do the 'make it so you can tune it' partial jobs. Concerned about quality? You bet, as much as I can. In the end, though, you aren't selling your work, you are selling happy customers. Dave Stocker, RPT
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