Old upright - Gotta love 'em!

[Avery Todd]

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Ryan,

At 11:50 AM 7/15/04, you wrote:
>List, sorry my last post came out difficult to read. Here it is again:

Thanks. My old eyes appreciate it! :-)
Sounds like you're doing good. But what is a "whoopersnapper"? :-) I know.
After all, I'm from Texas but I just want to "gig" you a little! :-)

Avery

>Over the past few years more and more of my annual income has come from
>the sale of refurbished upright pianos. I typically pay $100-300 for a piano,
>more if its something really special. They generally sell for between $1000
>to $3500. I charge an additional $225 for the delivery and first tuning.
>Bench is extra. This added over $8000 to my annual income, added variety
>to my work, helped fill in the gaps in my tuning schedule, improved my skills
>as a technician, and helped families get further on their musical journey.
>
>The first thing that happens is I tap in bridge pins, give it a good tuning,
>and reshape the hammers. At that point I'll rate the sound quality as
>mediocre,fair, good, or excellent. The amount of refurbishing I do ! 
>depends on the
>quality.. If I'm dissapointed after the initial work I'll just do a quick
>regulation and sell it as an economy level instrument. If it comes out with
>that fat, rich tone with plenty of power and sustain I'll spend a lot more
>time.
>
>I sold a Hallet & Davis a couple weeks ago for $2000 + 225 for delivery
>and first tuning. I bought it for $300 from the local masonic lodge. It
>was a very straight forward project: Reshape hammers, rebush the keys,
>clean and lubricate, bridle tapes, casters, rejuvenate bass strings,
>regulate, fill a few ivory chips, install a dampp-chaser, clean up the
>case with some furniture restorer.  The whole project took about 30 hours
>and I figure I made $1600 profit. that comes out to over $50 an hour-not
>bad for a young whoopersnapper like me. The people who bought it were
>excited! I would have personally chosen that piano over any new piano in
>the $3000-4000 price range.
>
>Of course here in the ! pacific northwest we still have a lot of very 
>functional
>
>old uprights do to our mild climate. In fact I have found I can accumulate
>them much faster than I can get fix them up!
>
>I ABSOLUTLY believe there are still many older uprights worth refurbishing
>and maybe even rebuilding. Listen folks these things are IRREPLACABLE. No
>company is making 56" uprights anymore. If people want a grand but don't
>have the space many of these pianos are the next best thing. I would choose
>a big old good quality upright over any grand 5' or under. The rebuilding
>industry is continuing to develop better techniques to efficiently replace
>soundboards, pinblocks, and actions. If by refurbishing one of these better
>quality old uprights you can get another 10-15 years out of it, there's
>a good chance that rebu! ilding it will actually be more affordable in the
>future. Darrel Fandrich's action may allow us to someday make these old
>pianos truly worthy of the title "Upright Grand".
>
>Ryan Sowers, RPT,  Puget Sound Chapter
>
>
>
>
>
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