Steinway & Sons Piano Options

[A&PGirl]

As part of my mothers estate, we have a Steinway & Sons Upright/Vertical piano in very good to excellent condition. According to the serial # & Steinway's site, the piano was made in 1959. My dad and I have absolutely no information on it other then the following:

TU bought it new to use in its music department. After many faithful years, it was sent to the Steinway distributor here locally to be completely rebuilt back to spec. ? someone who worked in the music department kept it/got it and my mother found out at that it was for sale from the same distributor. My dad bought and brought it home in 1980. It has extremely low hours. ~<10 hours a week since 1980 and it went for months at a time without being played. Always religiously tuned until the last 5 years.

It's black, has 3 pedals and my mother off-handly referenced it as a Studio model once.

We would like to move it on to someone who can put it to use better then we can. Yes, I can/do play, but this piano's tonal quality sounds wrong to me.

I would appreciate help id'ing the model and finding some pricing on it.

[JawjaPorsche]

Sorry for the loss of your mother.

Terry

As part of my mothers estate, we have a Steinway & Sons Upright/Vertical piano in very good to excellent condition. According to the serial # & Steinway's site, the piano was made in 1959. My dad and I have absolutely no information on it other then the following:

TU bought it new to use in its music department. After many faithful years, it was sent to the Steinway distributor here locally to be completely rebuilt back to spec. ? someone who worked in the music department kept it/got it and my mother found out at that it was for sale from the same distributor. My dad bought and brought it home in 1980. It has extremely low hours. ~<10 hours a week since 1980 and it went for months at a time without being played. Always religiously tuned until the last 5 years.

It's black, has 3 pedals and my mother off-handly referenced it as a Studio model once.

We would like to move it on to someone who can put it to use better then we can. Yes, I can/do play, but this piano's tonal quality sounds wrong to me.

I would appreciate help id'ing the model and finding some pricing on it.

[A&PGirl]

Thanks.

I mentioned it before when I had to suspend hardware, but people seemed more upset over the hardware.

[JeffBowlsby]

A Steinway should sound fantastic Carry. Its probably just in need of a tuning, they need them every 6-12 months or so. Maybe get it tuned and you'll get the best return for it. My wife is a pianist.

[Jgilliam914]

Sorry to hear of your loss.
I have moved one upright piano enough to know if it is one of the old style tall ones that I wouldnt take it if it was free! Those suckers are super heavy and the casters do not work worth a damn. My sister was a vagabond early in life and moved that damn thing countless times. Last I saw of it I believe it was left when the house was sold.
Professional piano movers are the only way to go! I moved my grand 3 times and paid for it to be professionally each time. Come to think of it. Last time I saw the grand was when my ex moved to Texas (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Good Luck selling it. It sounds like a nice one

[A&PGirl]

I never liked the sound since I was a little child. You now how piano players talk about their pianos, as in they fell in love it or that was the piano they were meant have?

This piano was meant for my mom and puts up with me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

It used to be tuned 2-3 times a year and one year it was tuned 4 times. I don't remember why to be honest.

[tdgray]

Its an upright ....they tend to have weak soundboards .....have a tuner check to see if its cracked

[mepstein]

Donate to a school or charity and take the tax deduction.

[A&PGirl]

We'll be trying to get a tuner out next week to take a look at it and tune it.

Mark~

I don't think the tax break break would be worth it compared to a private sale.

For example of the worth of the piano, I could have 3/4ths of the cash for this 914 914 if I was inclined for a 75/76 or save it for similar age Steinway & Sons grand.

[A&PGirl]

We think the piano may be a Model 1098 Studio. We're going to call the factory trained tuners tomorrow and see about getting them out here.

[A&PGirl]

Seriously not for sale. I was just asking for id help and seeing who else had such a critter. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

Why is it in the for sale forum instead of the sandbox? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

[A&PGirl]

Dumb question: Can an out of tune piano be played or do I risk breaking something I really don't want broken?

Who wants to start betting on how much it will cost to tune a piano that is out of tune for about 6 years? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

[euro911]

You won't hurt it playing it, but if it's out of tune, you'll get discouraged quickly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Professional piano tuners around here get $150~$250 or more depending on the type. I ended up buying my own tuning hammer and use a digital chromatic tuner for my spinnet.

[A&PGirl]

F# is so far out, it's funny.

[abnrdo]

Sorry to hear about your loss Carrie.

The piano isnt out of tune, it just has character! You wont hurt playing an out of tune piano. The Steinway I played in college was tuned monthly. You wonder why they had to tune it so much? I played almost 6 -7 hours a day!

Hope you find its value.

-Jim

[Cracker]

Carrie - I too am sorry to hear of your loss. I lost my Dad when I was a young adult.

Regarding your Steinway...sometimes they can be more troublesome and costly than it's worth should items be in need of repair. Based upon what you have shared it doesn't sound like that is the case here. The aforementioned soundboard is a central part to how well and how a piano plays. Should it be damaged (say a crack), it could cost a few thousand dollars for a reputable Steinway rebuilder to replace.

I own an 1894 6'1" Model "A" Art Case baby grand - I'd sell my "car toys" before letting it go. It truly is special.

As far as value goes, I've seen Steinway uprights go from $2k-10k depending upon an exhaustive list of criteria. Best wishes upon finding a good home, whether through donation or sale!