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trapdoor2 - Posted - 11/05/2009: 11:26:17
Well...we're in the process of moving (only about 3mi) into a new home. We have an antique (ca. 1895) full-sized upright piano. I just called the company that moved this same piano for us 12 yrs ago and found that they will no longer move pianos like this. They sell (and, I assume they move them) Steinway and Yamaha concert grands...but evidently these big ol' uprights are too much for them at any price.
Sigh... At least the lady was upfront about it. She told me to consider selling it rather than moving it...but not to them, they don't want 'em anymore, even as a trade-in. She even suggested we simply leave it in the old house when we move out! 
The market for pianos must have crashed. 20 yrs ago this piano was considered a prime bit of victorian furniture (musical furniture, to boot). It wasn't horribly expensive then...but now it isn't worth moving? What's up with that?
I may have to move it myself...gonna need 4 stout young men to do that!
===Marc
"If banjos needed tone rings, S.S. Stewart would have made them that way."
KE - Posted - 11/05/2009: 11:54:34
Let me check my calendar -- nope, I'm pretty sure I'm scheduled for a kidney transplant or a haircut or something at that time.
pandjlocke - Posted - 11/05/2009: 12:01:00
Sorry, cleaning the chicken coop that day.
Beware of the urgent crowding out the important - C.E. Hummel
Paddy
backtothefuture - Posted - 11/05/2009: 12:21:47
Seventeen years ago, I cost me $75 to move my upright player piano. Today....who knows?
.
Dennis
 
Louisiana Rose - Posted - 11/05/2009: 12:23:51
Got one of my own to move, I even offered it free to anyone who would come and take it away, I am still waiting for a response lol
If you are gonna be out of date, do it right
Mopick - Posted - 11/05/2009: 12:43:54
Hahaha. I was given a big old upright piano back in the late 80's or early 90's (What a sap I was). I talked my friends into helping me move it the first time. I hired some guys from the street the second time (there was a corner where the day laborers would go to wait for jobs). The third time I moved, in 1993, I left it at the house I was renting. Sorry Larry if you happen to see this.....I hope you enjoyed your piano.
When I got it I thought I was getting something special. Turns out that it had a cracked soundboard and wouldn't hold tune. Half the ivory's were missing from the keys, and a lot of them would stick. I got hold of a piano tuner / repair guy and he told me I could do something like make a bar out of it. It wasn't worth fixing. When the piano was manufactured in the early 1900's, they were a dime a dozen and every household had one for entertainment. Much like every household has a TV today.
I told my wife the next piano I get I'll be able to move in the back seat of the car.
I live in the mountains.....
The mountainous region of Central Florida.
Sugarloaf Mountain; 312 feet above sea level.
http://www.banjohangout.org/myhango...albumid=3256
Randy
Edited by - Mopick on 11/05/2009 12:47:30
BConk - Posted - 11/05/2009: 13:27:05
I know a guy that'll help ..
"Defender of the Sacred Cod"
Capio pisces, ergo sum
mbowman - Posted - 11/05/2009: 16:31:54
BConk, he could cut it up for firewood but would probably only get one cord.
mbowman - Posted - 11/05/2009: 16:32:34
BConk, he could cut it up for firewood but would probably only get one cord.
mbowman - Posted - 11/05/2009: 16:32:50
BConk, he could cut it up for firewood but would probably only get one cord.
beeliner - Posted - 11/05/2009: 17:00:55
Those piano wires would be murder on that saw chain!
beeliner. Revis Martin. When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Proverbs 16:7 [KJV]
trapdoor2 - Posted - 11/05/2009: 17:40:06
Y'all are a riot. This is how we're getting it into the new house.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ons3wQQvo
The local piano store would charge $500 and then $20 per step on stairs (the store that declined to move it). I talked to a local piano tuning service this evening and he quoted me $170 and free setup/tuning after installation.
Looks like a non-issue now. I do have a trebuchet...just not big enough for a piano!
===Marc
"If banjos needed tone rings, S.S. Stewart would have made them that way."
PS: Hugh, I knew it was going to be L&H before I ever clicked the link. What a great bit!
Edited by - trapdoor2 on 11/05/2009 17:42:05
tinkersdam - Posted - 11/05/2009: 23:45:39
Yup...those old uprights are back-breakers for sure. A cousin of mine just moved an 1890 Steinway 9 ft. Grand piano out of his Washington D.C. condo. It had to go out by crane... same way he got it 'in'. That wasn't cheap... but where there's a will, there's a way. My niece bought a home 10 yrs ago that had a late 1800's upright that was left in the lower finished level of the home. The prior owners left it when they moved out because they couldn't get it out of the lower level w/o ripping out the stairwell walls. It was still in great shape and fortuitous for her, though, as she has 3 daughters taking piano. However, it will have to stay if/when they move too.
I sold my old beater console piano (one size down from the uprights) about 9 yrs ago when we remodeled the house. I replaced it with a Technic digital piano (not a 'keyboard') with full-sized keyboard & all the orchestral 'bells and whistles'. They're much easier to move (mine weighs about 130#s) and it doesn't go out of tune. A 'purest' might prefer the real thing...but for in the home... a good digital piano has everything w/o the weight and moving costs.
I agree that the market for the larger pianos has definitely dropped. Part of the problem IS the effort & costs to move them... but secondly is their size. The average home today doesn't have the room for something that large. Anyone interested in a piano for today's average home is usually looking for a spinet model. However, with the new and good used digital pianos available... even the spinet market has taken a big hit.
Dee
I can get 'er up to 120.... but any more than that and I'm gonna be roadkill on the bluegrass highway.
Louisiana Rose - Posted - 11/06/2009: 02:10:33
Malcolm got ours in with the aid of the car ramps and a lifting gizmo lol
If you are gonna be out of date, do it right
dingo - Posted - 11/06/2009: 05:48:28
We got ours for 1.00 at auction, it was all ready reworked, and in very good shape. When we move to Mexico, it will be sold with the house!!!!
The lady across the corn field has a player piano free to good home, and it is in good working condition.
Jill
What Happens in the Corn Field, Stays in the Corn Field.
mybote - Posted - 11/06/2009: 06:24:08
Owned a beautiful 1910 upright when we were first married. A romantic endeaver.
After two moves, we gladly sold it for 100.00. Now, when I see an upright, I don't think of the beautiful music it produces, I think of me bribing five friends to help me move it.
Ronnie - Posted - 11/06/2009: 06:41:53
Our 1904 Baldwin upright makes beautiful music (when my daughter plays it). I will probably live here the rest of my life, but if we ever move, I will make every effort take the piano with us. .
www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com
trapdoor2 - Posted - 11/06/2009: 07:42:57
Having now performed an evening's search of the 'net, I've found some interesting stuff.
The digital piano is simply killing the used/vintage piano business. Just as we've been talking about, the portability and excellent sound of the latest digital keyboards is the biggest issue. The heyday of the home piano (1870's-1930's) means that many vintage pianos are simply getting too old to be reasonably restored. This is especially true of the old uprights, why buy an $100, 800lb behemoth and then spend $5-6k getting it back into playing condition...only to find that you need to spend another $2k just to get it in the home?
I'm having a professional tuner look at ours. It was restored about 20yrs ago but needs tuning and a bit of work on some sticking keys. I don't expect any problems, but if it looks like another restoration is needed, I may opt for something like this:
http://www.tinkertunes.com/desk-1
Oddly enough, the first photo is a make/model virtually identical to ours.
===Marc
"If banjos needed tone rings, S.S. Stewart would have made them that way."
raybob - Posted - 11/06/2009: 08:48:30
Tuning and sticky keys are easy. You're going to be left with a piano that's in tune and plays well and you're still going to have to make up your mind about its future. Kind of like getting your old car detailed before selling it... hmmm, now it doesn't look so bad Another thought on this is that you might want to have the tuner over after the piano is in its new home whether it be yours or some other place. The movement may take it slightly out of tune again, and it should get used to its new environment before it's tuned (temp and humidity changes). Tuning a piano just before you sell it is a nice gesture, but the buyer will probably have to get it retuned shortly after it gets to its new home. If you're going to find it a new home consider giving the new owners a certificate for a tuning sometime after it arrives.
I think if your family plays it and enjoys it then you should keep it. I used to tune pianos back during the time I was going to college and I think there's nothing like an acoustic piano. When you play it you can feel it, and you can feel it when someone else plays it too. Have a real player over that plays something like ragtime with firm hands that really plays it and your whole house will feel it. When I'm listening to a cd an electric keyboard is fine with me. And if you have to take it out to play gigs going electric is an easy decision. But if I'm going to be in the same room with it I'd prefer an acoustic. And some of them are beautiful. I have some friends that have a nice old upright that was built with a rosewood case, man, talk about gorgeous. This being said even I almost succumbed to buying my wife an electric with weighted keys etc some years ago (they make the keyboards better now, in the early days nobody liked the feel of the electrics), but I just couldn't bring myself to it. As it turned out when I started with the banjo she started with the fiddle (something she'd always wanted to do), so we don't have to make a keyboard decision at least for now. Good luck.
Ray
"We learn from history that we do not learn from history." --G. Santayana
OM45GE - Posted - 11/06/2009: 09:23:11
We were in the market for a good piano for our son. We have the room and budget for anything up to a concert grand, but decided on a Roland Stage Digital piano. We know we have at least one move coming and who knows what he'll want to do if he sticks with the piano as an instrument.
The Roland is an incredible instrument and we couldn't be happier.
I do have some nostalgia for an accoustic instrument. We had a Steinway Grand when I was growing up that shook the house. Unfortunately it went to a cousin when the estate was settled.
"But if there were no music
Then I would not get through" - Shawn Colvin
trapdoor2 - Posted - 11/06/2009: 13:41:53
quote:
Originally posted by OM45GE
I do have some nostalgia for an accoustic instrument. We had a Steinway Grand when I was growing up that shook the house. Unfortunately it went to a cousin when the estate was settled.
Back in the 1980's, a family friend had a Steinway Baby Grand in her parlor. Her father had bought the piano new in 1927 (so the story went). I tried very hard to get her to sell it to me...but she gave it to her idiot daughter, who eventually sold it in a garage sale for something less than $100 (oh, if I had only known she was selling it!). Since we've had this piano for over 20 yrs, to me it is part of the family. We don't play it much but I've always had a piano in the house...the place would look naked without one. Converting it to a desk or bar would certainly be a last resort thing. My vision of retirement has always had the piano lurking about the periphery, I tend to revert to it for working out music theory issues and as a learning tool. I'll never really learn to play the thing properly but it will be a sad day if I have to call in the piano-vet and have it put to sleep. In the mean time, I think moving is going to be a non-issue. It won't fit into the new music-room/man-cave until Miz Diane approves a large, piano-shaped hole in the drywall. That won't happen until she decides to repaint the living room...maybe 4 or 5 yrs from now. ===Marc "If banjos needed tone rings, S.S. Stewart would have made them that way."
Bassora - Posted - 11/06/2009: 17:01:24
My main instrument is (sorry) piano. It's what I play during the day (high school music dep't).
I've HAD electronic keyboards. I still have this century old upright baby grand piano.
This piano was professionally moved across state. These movers stated that it was damaged with big rings on the top and a couple of burn marks on it too.
I informed the movers those rings and burns were from the kerosene lamps and candles that were required -- for 95 years it had been in rural churches with no electricity.
By the way, when i got it, it hadn't been tuned in at least a decade (according to the person who gave it to me). The tuner i hired remarked that, although it was a half step flat (the F played as an E) it was equal across the keyboard; every key was exactly the same amount flat. That's a quality instrument.
[side note: the professional moving company was suppose to move my piano across state (Missouri). My piano wound up in Florida along the way -- whoops
Anyway, here's a photo of my Waltham piano and a few of my other instruments.
Bassora Mo
from near the Big Mo
Moxley - Posted - 11/06/2009: 19:57:42
Marc,
I had the same problem two years ago and ended up destroying the piano just to get rid of it. It was built in 1886 and weighed over 700 pounds. I went through a few sawzall blade cutting up the cast iron harp piece just so I could carry it out. It took me a good 4 hours to disassemble the piano with a sled hammer, axe and sawzall. Good luck.
Doug
Ronnie - Posted - 11/12/2009: 07:00:03
Our old @1904 Baldwin is still up and running. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsEyE-5EAAY The kid playing it is Emily's classmate. He never had a piano lesson in his life. He has the uncanny ability to conjure up tunes in his head and play them on the spot.
www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com
Edited by - Ronnie on 11/12/2009 07:01:28
barbbanjo - Posted - 11/14/2009: 10:47:18
My husband is a piano tuner and technician so this post is especially interesting to us. He works on a lot of old pianos that are "part of the family" and has a real respect for them although the new Steinway grands are easier and faster to tune. Many families can't afford a new piano and the kids are learning on great grandma's something or other old upright. I once had an old Story and Clark that had the sweetest sound ever. I would rather have chopped up my mother in law's spinet than my Story and Clark and I would have pushed it myself all the way to Kansas when we moved if I could have. Our kids learned on an old upright and we moved it hither and yon with help from our friends. The ivories on the keys of the whole middle section of the keyboard were missing but that old piano got 2 kids through their years of music education. Now, our son and his children all play bluegrass and will eventually work up a family band. So I guess those old babies have a place yet. I know that when I need to figure out something on my banjo I often go to the piano - now it is an old Steinway console - because the keyboard is such a good visual of what a chord is, what 1, 1V, V is, etc. that I have found the piano really valuable.
dbaty - Posted - 11/14/2009: 10:57:52
I believe I gota work that day. 
Like a Dog, a Banjo just wants to be played with and cared for.
Kevin B - Posted - 11/14/2009: 12:39:17
One of the dumbest things I ever did involved moving an upright piano we bought. There was a fraternity house across the road (KY 32 in Morehead, KY "Christy Creek") and I offered them a meager amount to help me get it off the truck and in our home (I was probably 24 yrs. old) Those guys were glad to help and came over. I had my hand under one corner and said "put her down boys." Trouble was I had a finger between a caster wheel and the floor. I quickly hollered "Pick it up, pick it up." I think I had to lay off the banjo for about 2 weeks. Be careful with those things
Kevin ( )=='=~
'Possum, It's what's for dinner . . ."
SteveGeorge - Posted - 11/15/2009: 06:13:51
Where about's are you? I do know of one removal firm that will handle upright pianos at a reasonable cast. I'm surprised no-one mentioned them earlier. Check out their promotional video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7b0JcuwkIE
Hope that helps
Steve
'Hang on a minute lads ... I’ve got a great idea...!'
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