"upright" economics

[Frank Weston]

No matter what the name on the fallboard, premium and complete work to
rebuild an upright will cost about twice what the piano will bring.  The
only people making money "rebuilding" old uprights are those who get them
for little or nothing, do just enough to make them playable and
presentable, and sell them relatively cheaply.  There are people out there
looking for a playable piano at a low price, and this kind of "rebuild"
suits them just fine until later when they realize the musical limitations
of the instrument or else lose interest and try to sell it.  No one should
get upset over this situation. Consider the computer you're using to read
this.  It's probably limited in performance and could only be sold for a
fraction of its new price.

Frank Weston  
----------
> From: ANRPiano@AOL.COM
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: "upright" economics
> Date: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 12:46 AM
> 
> Dave asked
>  
>  SO----- QUESTION
>  
>  Has anybody on the list had success charging
>  premium prices for premium and complete
>  work rebuilding uprights for resale?(Rebuilding
>  Grandma's piano is separate issue)
>  Has anyone found a  market/ people willing to pay
>  for such rebuilt-resale pianos,
>  when a variety of new instruments can be
>  purchased in this price range. Or am I correct
>  assuming this is universally uneconomical.
>  
>                                   Cheers
>                                   David Renaud
>                                   RPT
>  
>   >>
> David,
> 
> Believe it or not but I will do between 3 - 5 of these beauties every
year 
> without fail.  And I get a nice dollar for my efforts!!  Granted you have
to 
> limit your efforts to very fancy case high quality pianos.  A reconizable

> name doesn't hurt either, but most people around here haven't heard of
Steiff 
> or Crown but within the past month I sold one of each.  I have been
patient 
> in developing this part of my business, word of mouth has helped a lot.  
> 
> If you want any more info please respond privately.
> 
> ANR