To Pleyel or not to Pleyel...

[alessandro]

I'm on the verge of stepping into an adventure, but then again I'm not...   Someone is selling the house his mother lived in, and in that house is a Pleyel grand.  He wants to sell it (he wants to get rid of it).  I think the instrument is approximately 150 years old.   I only have seen it on a picture yet but I do intend to have a closer look at the piano by the end of the month.   He asks 1000 euros for it, I think that is approximately 800 US$, in other word 'not much'.  Apart from some ivory that is missing here and there (I don't mind at all), and the woodwork that looks a little "mat", the guy told me that there is a big piece of what he thinks is marble laying in the piano; for him, the sound board is made of stone.   Is this guy simply mistaken ? Could this board of stone imply that the original board was made of wood but that it is broken and that it has been replaced (or fixed or camouflaged) this way ? Has anybody heard of this type of thing ? I'll try to go there with an expert anyways, but in the meantime I was just wondering "is this really worth it" ? I'm a right to think that if the soundboard is broken the piano is almost "lost" ? Is there for this particular case - besides the usual stuff (hammers, frame, pedals, sound etcetera) - a thing I should particularly pay attention to ?
Kind greetings to you all.

[richard black]

Stone in a piano - no, he's mistaken. It's paint on wood.

Those mid-19th-century Pleyels were quite nice instruments in their day but are only worth acquiring out of curiosity. Restoration will be a labour of love and a restored instrument has a financial value that bears no relation to the cost of the work. For everyday playing, unrestored, it'll be hard work and probably ultimately a bit depressing. But if you've the space for it, and fancy an adventure, it'll be a bit of fun.