On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 1:51 AM, Rob McCall <rob at mccallpiano.com> wrote: > Greetings list, > > I went to a tuning today with a new client who had a 1925 Wurlitzer, 4'-10" > Grand. I couldn't find the model number anywhere. Her kids don't play and > she wants to sell it. I told her I'd help her find an appropriate value. > > Being in the beginnings of my second year on the job, I don't do many > appraisals. Is there a standard method(s) of determining value? How does > one go about finding the value of a piano such as this? Aside from looking > on eBay, Craigslist, etc... Also, does anyone have any experience with this > model and an idea of what the range in value may be for this piano? > > It tuned nicely, although I left it about 12 cents flat due to the > condition of the strings (appeared to be in the rusting stage!) and the fact > that it hasn't been tuned in at least 4-5 years. It was about 25-30 cents > flat to begin with so I brought it up halfway to see how it does. > > The case is in very good shape, although the insides need a good cleaning, > which I have scheduled for next week. The dowels (outer ones) that hold the > screws which hold the lyre in place are loose and need to be fixed. I've > attached a photo of that plus an overall shot. > > She doesn't want to spend any extra money fixing it up or I would've > recommended a restringing, the lyre work, and the deep cleaning, plus some > minor key finishing work and key leveling. She wants the tuning, the lyre > work and the cleaning to make it salable. > > Any input would be appreciated. Thanks... > > Regards, > > Rob McCall > > McCall Piano Service, LLC > www.mccallpiano.com > Murrieta, CA > 951-698-1875 > > > > > > > > Hi Rob, I would look at this as a little gem for say, perhaps a student transitioning from a vertical to a grand in a home where they don't have a lot of room or money for a grand and/or don't want the brassy booming sound of an asian grand of this size. If I'm not mistaken it has a full size action which will give a student the feel and touch, after you regulate it for them of course, of a grand piano. It may not be a top name grand but we all didn't start out playing top name instruments, did we? If students can have starter pianos, read old spinets, uprights, consoles all of which have seen better days, why not a starter grand? One that with a little TLC and a good technician may never be a silk purse but may be a cut above the average sow's ear we all run across. Mike -- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100319/95a5a77a/attachment.htm>
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