buying a piano on the internet

[David and Jean Weiss]

A client of mine forwarded me this advertisement for a piano he was considering buying.  If you're in the mood to laugh read on.
David Weiss


Description of Piano from seller:
...the piano is a Beckwith Semi-Concert Grand Upright, manufactured in 1898. The appraiser rated it in very good condition.  I will just tell you some of the things that he noted.  The piano is an antique and will have additional antique value because  of the carving and the cost to restore.  It was totally refinished about 20 years ago and has been maintained in a climate controlled home. The value of this piano is $3250.00 based on age, condition, size, grade and rarity of the instrument.  Beckwith pianos were made for Sears Roebuck.  Grands, Uprights and Players made by different manufacturers marketed by Sears, who claim to have sold as many as 15,000 annually between 1883-1922.  Due to their towering height, these instruments usually had string lengths and musical capabilities equal and often superior to actual grand pianos, thus being labeled "Upright Grand" or "Cabinet Concert Grand" by their manufacturers.
  Unique and distinctive features of construction will be found in the Beckwith Semi Concert Grand piano; the most important of those special features is the sounding board construction which includes the Beckwith semi Concert Grand bent acoustic rim. This gives the Beckwith upright the tone of a grand piano and makes it especially well adapted for concert use. 
  "Cabinet Grand" is a term usually referring to certain large upright pianos over 50" tall. ( this piano is 57" tall, 67" wide, and 28" deep ).  A 52" upright provides as much total soundboard area as a 7' grand piano.  Its #1 bass string's length nearly matches that of a 6'3"grand.  In other words, you get grand piano performance quality in a vertical instrument.
   The appraisal values are stated in U.S. dollars and are based on market values from several sources.  Based on comparisons of pianos of this age, condition and nature offered for sale in newspapers and the internet by private parties, music stores, auction houses and piano teachers.  These values are certified through research in directories of the Music Industry, such as, The Presto Piano Buyers Guide, The Pierce Musical Instrument Atlas, The Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments and The Bluebook of Pianos, and the Piano Times Newspaper
   Hope this isn't too much info!  The piano is very nice and in very good condition.  I will say that we haven't had it tuned for awhile....our son who played it the most has been away at college and then we decided not to tune it since we were going to sell it.  It is not badly out of tune, though.  It also has 2 or 3 soft keys, which could be adjusted by the tuner. 
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