We have a piano to give…

We have a piano to give away:

This baby grand was left in the house that we recently purchased, and while we're planning to buy a piano at some point, we're probably going to get an upright. It definitely needs repair -- the pedal assembly is detached at the moment, and some of the keys need tuning to be playable. The family that lived at the house before us did play it, according to the neighbors. To get it into actually good condition (for a serious pianist) would require extensive repairs, but if you just want something nice for your and the kids to play around on, I think it would need only minor fixes.

I want to be very clear. We did get two piano appraisers out to take a look. The piano is a Lester, so it's not a particularly valuable old piano. To get it back to really good condition would be expensive -- in the $5500 - $7500 range, and both appraisers said that we could buy a better quality used baby grand for that price, or a good used upright for $3000, so we're probably going to do that ourselves in the summer, when we actually get to move into our house. I play somewhat seriously, so I want a good piano, with excellent sound quality and all the keys working well.

I think this would only make sense for someone who's learning, maybe a kid, and someone who's willing to pay a little bit to get the piano tuned, reattach the pedals, and maybe repair a few keys. It'll need more frequent tuning than a new piano; the neighbors told us that the old owners had to have it tuned fairly often, because the tuning pegs are stripped, essentially.

The two appraisers we talked to were Jeff Capelli (708-771-8388 (w), 708-772-8282 (c)) and Ben Gac (630-291-5654). Based on their web pages and testimonials, they seem like reputable and experienced guys. So if you wanted, you could call them directly and ask them how much they'd charge to repair the baby grand piano at 332 Wisconsin to minimally playable condition, and how much it would cost to keep it tuned each year. I just don't know whether all of that together would be worth doing or not. (Update: Ben estimate $1-2K to get it playable.)

It looks lovely as it is, and I hate the thought of throwing it away. At the very least, it'd make a pretty piano-shaped object in someone's parlor or living room. If anyone would like to come and pick it up, please let me know. (The legs come off, I'm told, so then it's just a matter of having some strong folks to lift it onto its side and move it...)

If you're interested, do let me know. Thanks!

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