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When Old Pianos Must Go


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Depressing.

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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I had a thread about this last year and it went kind of south but at the turn of the 20th century there were at least 300 piano manufactures around according to my tuner who is the VP of the technicians guild around here.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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Old Organs are also endangered. Along with many Pianos there are at least 40 free Organs on the local Facebook Marketplace. There are a couple of Hammond tone wheel spinets among the Thomas, Lowrey, Wurlitzer, Conn, Kimball, etc.
C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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As someone's sig on this forum says... "Pianos are like circus elephants". And as the article points out, they served a special purpose in people's living rooms, other than just as a musical instrument... "an immaculate piece of furniture" as it were.

 

Due to increasingly accurate digital technology, and the proliferation of that technology... the acoustic piano (purely as an instrument) has indeed lost its value. (Except for Steinways in good condition. etc.) It now enters the same realm as vintage analog synths... collectors items.

 

Until it was accurately recreated digitally, the sound of the Piano was a very magical thing that could only be achieved by 300+ pounds of wood, metal, and ivory.

Kurzweil PC3, Yamaha MOX8, Alesis Ion, Kawai K3M
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we have an old, dare i guess antique, upright in our living room. the condition is so poor its unplayable. cost to rebuild its innards is more than it would be worth, but my wife likes how it looks. arrrghh circus elephant!
The baiting I do is purely for entertainment value. Please feel free to ignore it.
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I had a 6 Chickering built in the 1910s that I played for about 30 years. Nice bright sound and a joy to play. Eventually it got so that it would hold a tune only for a couple of months. I asked my tuner/technician about rebuilding it and Ill never forget what he told me.

 

Old pianos arent like old violins. Sometimes they just wear out and arent worth fixing. He said over the years the tuning pins had been hammered in to tighten them but that this was a self-defeating maneuver and would eventually fail. He suggested that I would probably like a Schimmel and after playing a lot of pianos bought the 6-10 that I still have. But I was sad to see the old one go. The dealer took it as a trade-in and said he could make the cabinet nice enough to sell it to someone who wanted it as a piece of furniture. I guess back in the mid 90s that was still true.

 

Theres room for it where I live now, but if Im looking to downsize there arent a lot of apartments or condos where it would fit. I should have bought a Steinway if I had been thinking resale value. The Schimmel is worth about what I paid for it even though a comparable new one is way more than that.

 

But theres definitely been a sea change from the 60s and 70s when having a piano in the house was common. Im sure lots of us were asked to play something on a out of tune spinet in your friends parents living room. Nobody had played it in years but it still sat there as a symbol of middle class aspirations.

aka âmisterdregsâ

 

Nord Electro 5D 73

Yamaha P105

Kurzweil PC3LE7

Motion Sound KP200S

Schimmel 6-10LE

QSC CP-12

Westone AM Pro 30 IEMs

Rolls PM55P

 

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My church was given a beautiful Grotrinn-Strinuirg (I think that's the brand. Trying to read off a picture of the name) build to the 30s in Germany. According to the history we got on this piano, it was built by the man whose former partner moved to the US and changed his name to Steinway.

 

This is a well maintained instrument, lovingly cared for, and kept in perfect tune. But, it is usually relegated to the back of the stage in favor of the Yamaha MOX8.

 

I personally try to play it every chance I get, but does not get played near as much as it should.

 

I have a friend that has a music store, and he has a number of pianos that he has had there for a long time, because they won't sell.

 

I've even seen a few in Molly Mutt, the local ASPCA Thrift Store. I try playing them, but they are unplayable.

 

As much as it pains me to say so, the article is right. I know that if we ever tried to sell our 61 Wurlitzer Spinet, no one would buy it, even though the case is black and in beautiful condition. Tuning, not so much.

 

 

 

"In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome.

So God helped him and created woman.

 

Now everybody's got the blues."

 

Willie Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

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I have my old piano now that my mom sold her home. It's not worth anything but I learned to play on it and for that I'd never let it go. Sorry a digital piano will never be the same thing.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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A sad but true tale to be sure.

 

When I upgraded the old Yamaha vertical I learned on to a lovely little Baldwin I somehow managed to convince the music store to take the Yamaha away in the same truck that the Baldwin arrived in.

 

Got no money for it, but was happy enough not to pay a removal fee.

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