Steinway & Sons for $7k

[chaos3737]

My music school is selling an old Steinway & Sons piano.  I've been looking to replace my Petrof 116 with a nice grand, but I wasn't sure if this was the right choice.  It's an aging Steinway & Sons grand.  I think it's roughly 9 feet.  For $7k, it seems like a great deal, but it seems like it's in bad shape, at least on the outside.  It sounds phenomenal, having spent it's entire life in a music school.  But the white parts of several keys are lifting off the wood underneath, and the case is pretty battered.  I'm gonna get more details this week, but should I bother?

[lhorwinkle]

Have a piano technician examine the piano. (That's true for the purchase of any used piano.)

A tech can evaluate the condition and can tell you how much it would cost to repair or restore.

Repairing damage to the white key tops is not expensive. Restoring any damage to the finish might be more expensive, but might not be necessary if the appearance doesn't bother you.

Most important is the condition of the soundboard, bridges, and action. A tech can evaluate these. Find a tech and make use of his expertise.

[quantum]

Model B is 6'11, Model D is a hair shy of 9'.  Either model has the potential to be an exceptional instrument.  Realize that there is a lot of variability in a Steinway, two model B's sitting side by side can be day and night.  Ask yourself: "does this piano speak to me."  

Sounds like the case and the key surfaces have seen better days.  These are only cosmetic, and fixing them will generally not change the character of the piano's voice.  Are the key surfaces ivory?  Something to think about -  do you want to find ivory to replace them?  

Have the entire thing checked out by a qualified technician.  The insides are much more important, and this is where a tech's knowledge is of great value.  The evaluation will give you more insight as weather to proceed or not.  The evaluation may also give you reason to lower the offer, if there are more things found to be in need of attention.  Music school pianos get beat up pretty hard.  I've seen practice room pianos brand new in September, and turn out to looking and sounding like a pile of firewood the following April.  

I've seen a battered Model B go for around $10k CAN.  Keep in mind the new MSRP of these is around $82k from an authorized dealer.  You might want to search for a tech who has the expertise to rebuild the instrument so you can also factor in that cost.  

Play the piano a lot, test it, prod it, poke it, be a tire kicker.  An instrument of this caliber is made to take the beating of a concert pianist.  

[keys60]

Definitely have it checked by a highly skilled tech and ask what it needs. A pretty extensive rebuild could cost around 10K, sans refinishing, which it may or may not need and you'd still have made a good investment IMHO. Then again, some are just ready for the heap.

[john90]

I really like the 'Sounds Phenominal' bit. What does the action feel like? Can it play soft passages nicely? Can you consistently play pp sections? Any clunks/clicks from the action? if so, is it the key bottoming, or is it somewhere in the action? Try the feel of the least used keys compared to those in the middle. What year is it? Have you checked the serial number on the net? It needs to be fairly modern. Very early ones can be a money pit, and difficult to sell on.

My advice would be to keep the Petroff for a few months as well if you can. If you have to sell the Petroff to buy it and cover the cost of getting it in your front room, unless you have fixed a few pianos, think twice. You don't want to compromise your piano playing skills/learning curve if you are a young student trying to reach maximum technical perfection in a short while, with some project that is a huge distraction, for the sake of saving less than 15k dollars. Education is expensive too.

There is nothing quite so sexy as a monster of an old piano that plays superbly but looks like a pile of junk. A few missing key tops can add to the fun.

[auction]

If you do not purchase the piano, I would be extremely interested in either purchasing or auctioning the piano.  Depending on its location, I could guarantee that we would sell it for more than 7K.  We have sold a bunch of Steinways on our online auction site(we schedule preview inspections for each one).  We presently have a gorgeous rebuilt 6' XR Steinway Reproducing piano.  For the details, please go to https://www.capitolonlineauctions.com