I bought a piano!

[Scarpozzi]

I feel like an adult! I just put new floors down in the den I built and am working on trim soon. I found a 38 year old piano for $250 in really good shape...that's a decent price because pianos around here are typically $100-200 in fair condition. There's not a lot of supply without going through a dealer and spending $300-500.

The wood finish is near mint and the bench is solid. I only saw a few scratches on a couple of the keys...but it's very minor cosmetic damage. She couldn't tell me how old it was, but based on a piano lesson book that had dates written in it from lessons and the serial number, I'm pretty sure it was built in 1979 and not played much by kids. The piano looks no less than 5-10 years old, but plays like a 15 year old piano....has been well cared for...no drink rings, no major damage anywhere. Will work great for my kids' lessons.

I ordered a tuning kit and am going to go through the strings next week. Only 2-3 keys are way out, but overall...a tuning is all it needs. I have really good pitch and am going to work on getting it sounding good again with the help of a laptop tuning program.

The most fun was getting it loaded and unloaded in the back of my truck last night. I have a really good friend that helped me lift the thing twice. I can't state enough how important friends are when it comes to stuff like these. I've got to beer him soon.

 

[IronWing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s4nVg_W_6Y

 

[SKORPI0]

Pics/video of the piano you bought being played.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Pics/video of the piano you bought being played.

https://imgur.com/gallery/pPMbbS3

It needs to be tuned before I get any videos... I also need some lessons...

 

[nakedfrog]

Tuning a 12 string is enough of a hassle, I just pay a tuner to do our piano. So long as I have him out once a year, he only charges forty bucks (first time was $75).

 

[Scarpozzi]

Tuning a 12 string is enough of a hassle, I just pay a tuner to do our piano. So long as I have him out once a year, he only charges forty bucks (first time was $75).

That's not a bad deal. Most people around here won't even come to your house for that little...

I know of the hassle I'm asking for. I want to learn though and am going to tackle the job 15-20 keys at a time and use it as an excuse to drink beer while I tune.

 

[Platypus]

Congrats, but I would highly recommend paying someone to tune it professionally for you if you want it to be as close to in tune as possible. It sounds like you kind of want to learn how to do it, but I imagine you can do some damage pretty easily with those high tension strings if you're not careful.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Congrats, but I would highly recommend paying someone to tune it professionally for you if you want it to be as close to in tune as possible. It sounds like you kind of want to learn how to do it, but I imagine you can do some damage pretty easily with those high tension strings if you're not careful.

That's good advice. I'm not worried...most keys are pretty close and I don't expect to be moving the pegs more than 1/8-1/4th of a turn to get it right. There are only a few keys way out.

Btw....how've you been doing? I've not been back to Chicago in years...was fun grabbing Sushi that time in 2006. Hope all is well.

 

[dasherHampton]

You can play the Matrix chords.

a minor triad --- F major triad (starting on the F above the a minor triad)
a minor triad - F major triad

 

[IronWing]

Tuning a 12 string is enough of a hassle, I just pay a tuner to do our piano. So long as I have him out once a year, he only charges forty bucks (first time was $75).

Is his name Opperknockity?

 

[Platypus]

That's good advice. I'm not worried...most keys are pretty close and I don't expect to be moving the pegs more than 1/8-1/4th of a turn to get it right. There are only a few keys way out.

Btw....how've you been doing? I've not been back to Chicago in years...was fun grabbing Sushi that time in 2006. Hope all is well.

Haha I remember that. Yeah I've been doing well, still in Chicago (and a lot of time in Germany). Hope all is well with you and your fam too.

 

[Thebobo]

https://imgur.com/gallery/pPMbbS3

It needs to be tuned before I get any videos... I also need some lessons...

Very cool years of memories in the making.

 

[brianmanahan]

cool, looks like a nice little spinet, would be fun to play some ragtime on!

what manufacturer is it? reminds me of a yamaha i've played, but probably too old to be one.

gotta keep those kids playing piano - out of all the stuff i did when i was a kid, that is the thing i'm most glad i stuck with.

 

[brianmanahan]

if i ever get a place with enough space in it and a spare 30$k, this is the one i want

 

[Scarpozzi]

cool, looks like a nice little spinet, would be fun to play some ragtime on!

what manufacturer is it? reminds me of a yamaha i've played, but probably too old to be one.

gotta keep those kids playing piano - out of all the stuff i did when i was a kid, that is the thing i'm most glad i stuck with.

It's actually a pretty cheap brand.... Currier is the brand. They say it's the oldest piano brand in the US, but it was bought and sold a few times. The guy who started Ovation guitars most-recently purchased the company before they went out of business in the early 80s. The pianos were made in North Carolina and this particular piano was made late enough that it has their patented CurrierCote coating on it...basically, it's a furniture lacquer that protects the wood. I have to say, it looks fantastic for its age and I really dig the color of the wood.

I can tell that the key action and interior workings of the piano are definitely entry-level and not as nice as many I've played, but I only put up $250 for this piano...it had a matching bench, no exterior damage and sounds decent. I think that's a very fair price based on the looks of the wood alone. I rate the woodwork a 9.5, sound a 7, key quality/action a 7....so with a tuning the sound quality will go up.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Update: I got a nice piano tuning kit from Amazon for $40. I started tuning the piano Sunday. The lower half of the piano is out maybe 15 cents....the upper half fell off by the 6th octave and was almost a whole chromatic key flat, but it fell off a little more per key over 3 octaves, so it wasn't noticeable. I only had time to tune C4-G6, but the keys sound a lot better....G6# and G6 sound almost like the same note right now... The keys at the top end are the hardest to tune because the wedges don't have a lot of space above the hammer strike. I'm having to slide the wedge in from the side and only mute one string...then pull 2 in. I may need to resort to using a felt ribbon or something.

I'm going to start working down from middle C as soon as I get another hour or so to work on it and try to wrap this up. I can't wait to get it wrangled so we can start playing it again and know it's right.