"New" old uprights

[David Ilvedson]

What will work for this is a showroom where these pianos can be displayed
for consumers.  With some patience they will sell...

David I.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
Of Richard Brekne
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 1:10 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: "New" old uprights


Of course Ron is correct about the market place and old pianos.. at least
for
the greatest part of the market. Still there are those few that will pay
lots
and lots for a beautiful sounding, great playing, and superbly restored old
piano. If the cabinet is nice to begin with, and you are able to put a great
sounding piano inside of it (either by restoration or complete rebuild) then
its fun and rewarding to do such work. Once every couple years or so you can
sell something like this for what its really worth.

I have this feeling that we tend to underestimate the potential of this end
of
the market really. Its a market niche that needs a lot of working to be
sure,
but heck if you can sell one such instrument every couple years, why not do
it
??? .. its fun and the money you get (when you finally get it) is always
like a
kinda Christmas present that comes out of no where. Not to mention all the
oohhhs and ahhhss you get to hear from anyone who see's the result of your
work. A good way of advertising what you can do when put to the task.



Ron Nossaman wrote:

> >Maybe some of those old, beautiful pianos really ARE worth restoring!
> >
> >Wally Scherer
>
> Absolutely, and of course not. Trouble is - what they're worth isn't what
> they're worth. It depends on where you draw the lines between musical
> performance, looks, cost, and the market. Sadly, with very shiny new
> "horizontal" pianos selling at a price considerably below what it would
> cost to do justice to the old upright, the consumers will likely opt for
> the "grand". Even the folks that want to keep that old upright, rather
than
> to buy the grand, want to do it as cheaply as possible, with the best
> "visual" result they can get, since they already think it sounds pretty
> good as is. I have that conversation more often than any other, I think,
or
> maybe it just seems like it. I hope that isn't a universal thing
> everywhere, but that's the story in my part of town.
>
> Ron N

--
Richard Brekne
Associate PTG, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway