Buying a Player Piano
By Robbie Rhodes
Jody has drafted a fine checklist to assist novices wanting to buy a player piano (Digest 960806, "WTB Ampico Reproducing Piano"). Here are my thoughts for additions:
1. The title should be "Buying a Player Piano".
2. This little paper is a fine candidate for the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) library.
3. The preface should include a section on "Finding a good piano tuner/tech"
Hints: ask the local concert hall proprietor, the local performing pianists, and the musical instrument maintenance technician at the local college. Less trustworthy are recommendations from piano dealers, who want to sell the service of their own poorly-paid tech, and the poorly-paid tuners serving many neighborhood piano teachers. You don't want a person who does only piano-tuning -- seek a good piano repairman who may or may not do tunings also. After you've found a competent piano tech ask him about player techs.
4. Take the player tech with you when you inspect the piano (buy him luch, at least!). He can also evaluate the basic piano quality.
5. Find the serial number of the piano. Usually its somewhere near the tuning pins.
6. In most cases the piano you are considering won't be in top shape, and will benefit from some immediate attention by the competant piano tech and/or player tech. Your goal is to weigh the cost of the repairs against the price asked by the seller.
7. Trust the advice of the competant piano tech and player tech -- they are the professionals of the trade, and in my experience they love the music as well as their work.
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| Robbie Rhodes |
| Return-Path: rrhodes@foxtail.com |
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(Message sent Wed 7 Aug 1996, 20:47:19 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.) |
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