As some of you know I have been wanting a Steinway Duo/Art, 'OR'
size, in an art case.  I have seen these sell for years and always
for more money than I had at the time.   I have been watching eBay
rather close as I have a gutted XR with the parts and would love to
sell it but have had no offers.

I have watched the value of player pianos of all types for the past
40-plus years.  I was lucky enough to ride the prices up in the 1970s,
which paid for my piano collecting hobby, and I watched it start to
decline, with a few exceptions, in the 1980s.  It has been an up-down
ride the past ten years with little or no appreciation in value.

I believe that anyone interested in these pianos today should just
go ahead and buy one now while they can.  The really primo good stuff
such as a Coinola CO or a Seeburg H are still hard to find while the
more common A-roll pianos can be found for less than the prices in the
heyday of the 1970s.  On eBay today there is a Steinway Duo-Art grand
in Los Angeles for $2500 that looks pretty good, and on the nickelodeon
side of things a Seeburg C art Case sold a couple of weeks ago for less
than $2000 and at one time just the glass out of one would have sold
for more than $2000.

I have been watching eBay for the past six months and have to ask why
so many piano dealers put grand pianos on eBay at such high prices
when they never sell.  I have several pianos I would love to break even
on and feel that it is not the economy that is hurting the market but
the age of the collector.

A simple story illustrates:  When I went to college I had a really
nifty typewriter that could type in several colors as well as "White
Out."  Do you remember "White Out" correction fluid?  Today my daughter
has no interest in that typewriter I was so proud of owning.  She wants
one of those plastic laptop things that she can talk to her friends
with as well as do all the other stuff like type papers.  Can you
believe she also has no interest in the old player piano her dad has
in the living room?

Just some rambling thoughts and I hope someone has some encouraging
words for me like, "I'll give $2500 for your old Steinway."

Concerning new pianos and players we still sell the Yamaha Disklaviers
to some really nice homes but non-player grand piano sales are just not
happening.  The plastic piano-sounding thing that does it all outsells
everything else.

Don Teach - Shreveport Music Co.
Shreveport, Louisiana