rebuilding decisions

[Mark Davidson]

Terry,

Have you been reading "The Seven Habits..."?  Rule 2: "Begin 
with the end in mind."  Anyway, great question.  Obviously no-one
quite agrees, and no-one but me has the piano in front of them to
look at while deciding...  I think it  really comes down to "what is
the business plan?"  My plan is basically this: find an inexpensive
baby grand, preferably sub-$1000 but no more than about $1500,
with decent case.  Pour lots of labor into it while keeping capital
expenses to a minimum.  Get it back into excellent working order, 
learn what I can, sell and recoup costs, and maybe make a 
couple thousand dollars.  I don't necessarily need to do every-
thing that can be done, but those things I choose to do I would
like to do right.  Starting with an inexpensive piano means I can
afford to make mistakes (maybe it's no less risky, but seems so
in my mind).

This is not the business plan of many on this list.  They are
rebuilding the best pianos to the highest level.  Is that approach
appropriate for this piano?  From an aesthetic viewpoint, sure,
but not from a profit viewpoint.

Others approach it from a more business-like point of view.
Fix it and sell it.  Make money.  They are not saying to do poor
work, just being very pragmatic.  Turn it around and move on
to the next project.

I am not presently doing this for a living, so I have the luxury of
putting in way more labor than might be appropriate for you or
most of the people on this list.  From a business standpoint, it
would not make sense for them to do what I'm doing.  For 
instance I can entertain the thought of rebuilding all those 
wippens, just for the experience, or repinning the shanks 
and replacing the knuckles, rather than just buying new parts 
off the shelf. I may never choose to do it again, but I'd know 
how. Those things would not make sense in a "time is money"
environment.  Likewise this particular piano, though nice 
enough, might not have a high enough margin to be very 
profitable.


With my plan in mind, next I have to consider the
particulars of this piano.  Bridges, strings, pinblock,
action, sure. But it has a nice mahagony
case which would be very beautiful if refinished well.
Very tempting, but wasn't part of my original plan.
Should I do it?  Well, not if I'm sticking to my plan.

Anyway, I'm in no hurry to make these decisions, and
the various viewpoints are much appreciated.

-Mark

=======================
Terry Farrell wrote:

I find some of the responses to this post to be rather curious. Some say you
should replace the soundboard and recap and new action. Some say it is
ridiculous to replace soundboard and just epoxy the bridges, etc.

I believe it is imperative to first consider what your objectives are. What
do you want to have when finished with your project? A new piano? A
better-than-new piano? A surprisingly good-for-being-80-years-old piano? Is
quality of product highest priority? Is profit highest priority? Is learning
experience highest priority? You also have to consider your existing skills
and equipment/facility availability. And if you are going for something less
than the complete redesign/remanufacture route, you need to consider the
current condition of the individual piano components (which you have indeed
provided some information on).

Various answers to the above questions will result in a wide array of
rebuilding task directions. The answers should lead you toward appropriate
decisions. So what do you say about these issues???? Curious minds.......

The few Millers I have worked on have been very high quality pianos.

Terry Farrell