When looking to acquire a used piano, age matters.

And grabbing a free piano off Craigslist and then having a tuner come and tune is not going to fix these issues (provided the piano can be tuned at all). It isn’t just about it needing to be tuned with a piano. These photos show dust, rust, and wear, which are all things that make a piano sound and feel bad. I’m going to share some pictures of older pianos in order to illustrate what happens as pianos age. However, the piano has rarely been opened in its tenure in that home. They think it’s in “great” condition because the furniture part of it (the outside) has been cared for and dusted. Why does this matter to someone else? The biggest issue is that this scenario seems to be the most common one for pianos that are listed on Craigslist and other marketplaces. So, now there is a 60 (or 100!!) year old piano that has all original parts that are worn and dusty and not working well, and the poor piano hasn’t been tuned in ages. Unfortunately, the common scenario with a piano that I see most often is that it was purchased, then tuned maybe once or twice over the course of several decades and that’s about it. Both of these involve a great deal of expense and new parts. Left alone, pianos do not last forever.Ī piano can be reconditioned. There are a multitude of more issues I could discuss, but those factors are pretty huge. And the strings become rusty and dusty and no longer create a good sound. Also, the wood parts become brittle and break causing the piano not to play correctly, or at all. As a piano ages, the hammers get hard and wear down to the wood. Once a car gets to a certain age, it needs a new engine, a new transmission and stuff like that. picture frames on top, but it is a complicated musical instrument with a lot of working parts inside. A piano may LOOK like a piece of furniture, and in some ways it is i.e. Think of a piano less in terms of a piece of furniture, and more in terms of a car. The term antique should not be applied to a piano. “It’s an antique”, is a phrase I hear often.

Wurlitzer piano estimated value