Selling the Ancestral Piano

Subject: Selling the Ancestral Piano
From: GUEST,Charmion at Work
Date: 25 May 04 - 02:29 PM

I am considering putting the ancestral piano up for sale. It is a nice one -- good sound board, rosewood case, ivory keys -- but no-one in my generation plays it. I like portable instruments, especially things you strum and pick, and my dear spouse (Edmund) sings, and has been known to thump things. Piano-playing is an accomplishment that has basically passed us by, and we really use it only for figuring out new tunes, a job that could be done perfectly well with a small electric keyboard.

Has anyone any tips to offer? We live in Ottawa, Ontario, and the piano is a ca.-1900-vintage Heintzman upright grand (i.e., about five feet wide, almost five feet high, with practice pedal).

Charmion

Subject: RE: Selling the Ancestral Piano
From: Amos
Date: 25 May 04 - 04:39 PM

Don't promise to deliver it yourself!!

We bought ours, only a little younger, for about $800. But I guess it depends on a lot of local factors.

Advertise!


A

Subject: RE: Selling the Ancestral Piano
From: atenor
Date: 25 May 04 - 05:43 PM

I used to work on pianos before the back gave out. Have a good tuner/technician take a look at it and give you an appraisal of what kind of condition it's in and what it's worth. They are usually bad people to sell to because, in my experience, they usually have more "projects" on hand than time to work on them.
It sounds like an interesting instrument. The old rose wood instruments are usualy very nice instruments.

Subject: RE: Selling the Ancestral Piano
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 May 04 - 01:05 AM

Appraisals need to be by someone other than furniture appraisers. Get a music appraiser. That makes a big difference. I have a big piano like that and I will get it worked on one of these days (I have researched doing it myself, but most information points me away from making the effort). My mother gave my brother the large upright grand like that that my parents bought when I was a kid. It was the one we learned on, and sounded good. I think he spent something like $6500 to have it restrung and refinished. He can afford it, and he lives in Los Angeles, where everything is probably more expensive. My piano is one that was in my father's family and they probably bought new in about 1880. Original strings mean tuning difficulties and breakage. It needs work. It's an absolutely gorgeous ornate rosewood case, birds-eye maple sounding board, carved case and with the original music stand intact. It's going to be another expensive one to restore. But I think in the end they are worth it. As the saying goes, they don't make them like that any more.

SRS

Subject: RE: Selling the Ancestral Piano
From: GUEST,Norval
Date: 29 May 04 - 04:37 PM

Heintzman pianos are considered the best ever built in Canada.

Not to be confused with a different piano company named
"Gerhard Heintzman" whose instruments were of a lesser quality.

Charmion, if you can supply the serial number I can give you
the approximate year of manufacture.