• CHOOSE from the selection of FREE UPRIGHTS or GRAND PIANOS below.
• CALL US to determine how much of a deposit is needed to secure your piano adoption. Remember, THE PIANO IS FREE. However, to make the piano tunable, a minimum of replacing the strings, hammers and dampers is required. The listed costs are for restoration services only * (NO SALES TAX!).
• GET READY to be the proud owner of an adopted classic piano worth THOUSANDS of dollars more than what you paid for its restoration.
• KNOW that you have revived and invested in an heirloom-quality piece of music history!

The restoration of a piano can be broken down into three different areas:

1) the strings; 2) the case; and 3) the action

To make the piano tunable and sound good, as stated above, a minimum of replacing strings, hammers and dampers (OPTION 1) is required. Included in this basic service, if needed, are soundboard repair, regilding the plate, rebushing the keyboard and minor action regulation.

Beyond that, everyone’s priorities are different. One person’s priority may be the look of the piano, or the finish (OPTION 2), while a musician’s priority may be the feel of the action (OPTION 3). A full restoration (OPTION 4) may be required, and will make the piano like new. Please refer to FAQs: Are There Standards In The Piano Industry That Rebuilders Are Held To?

The strings are probably the least understood part of the piano. Usually, people assume that all the piano needs is a “good tuning.” When a piano is sitting in your living room, it is under a tremendous amount of string tension. About 30,000 to 40,000 lbs! The tuning pins that hold the strings in tune have an average life of about 60-70 years. After that, they start to lose their grip in the pinblock. First, the piano needs to be tuned more than usual. After awhile, however, the tension renders the piano untunable at all.

When your piano tuner tightens the pins with his tuning hammer, the pins just slip back out of tune again. The only remedy at that point, is to re-string with bigger pins (depending on the condition of the pinblock). When the tighter pins are driven into the pinblock, the piano can be tuned for another 70 years or so. A fringe benefit of replacing the bass strings is a noticably fuller sound as well. If there are cracks in the soundboard, they are repaired and the plate (sometimes called the harp) is re-gilded gold before the new strings are installed. After the strings are installed, new dampers are installed and the piano is stretched-tuned several times.

OPTION 2: The Case

The case restoration includes refinishing the case and bench and re-plating the piano hardware (hinges, pedals, screws, etc.). It can be done in either the original wood grain, ebonized (black satin) or one of the colors below. After the lacquer is sprayed, a professional hand-rubbed satin finish is acheived; that is a critical final step in bringing out the full beauty of the case. The action is like to motor of the piano. It transfers the energy from the player’s fingers to the strings. It literally connects the player with the instrument.

If you have the option to change the finish, the general concensus is, the more visible the woodgrain, the darker the finish, the more rich the finish looks. We usually recommend a medium hue.

CASE COLOR FINISHES

ABOVE: Red Finish and Reddish-Brown Finish

ABOVE: Brownish-Red Finish and Brown Finish

The action (keys, shanks, wippens, bushings, felts, etc.) is critical to how the instrument feels to the touch. That is an often overlooked point of consideration. It is a combination of the sound and the feel that inspire (or don’t inspire) the player.

OPTION 4: Full Restoration

Simply put, Full Restoration is the combined total of Options 1, 2 and 3. Please refer to FAQs: Are There Standards In The Piano Industry That Rebuilders Are Held To? for more information.

OPTIONS: Ivory Keys and Plastic Keytops

If a piano keyboard has ten (10) or fewer chipped ivories, we replace them with our surplus of used ivories, and sand, bleach and buff the entire keyboard to an off-white, ivory look. If more than ten ivories are bad, we replace them with new, plastic keytops. New, full ivory keyboards are available upon request.