Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Sohmer Piano - Good Buy?

First posting! We found a 20-yr old, Sohmer, 45" Upright -- "rarely used" -- for $1000. Private seller is original owner. Replacing our broken 1920 upright and need something to last for piano lessons. Can't afford much, however. Serial number is 258480#45C.

List of "exceptional" pianos here, includes Sohmer. So, thinking of paying a technician to check this one out (after we do, of course, for obvious problems).

Possibly a good deal???

Don't want to pay to have it checked out if this isn't at least possibly, a great deal . . . .

Advice would be MOST appreciated!

Thanks!

-kathy

I have been impressed with many of the Sohmer pianos that I have seen. They definitely seem better than average quality. Please have a technician check it out for you - most often I have found that the buyer can recoup the cost of a pre-purchase check by being able to talk the seller down. You are in a more powerful position to negotiate if you have hired your own professional to check it out.

I do not have an atlas handy to look up the serial number, but a twenty year old Sohmer was a very nicely built piano.

Definitely have it checked out by an independent piano tech. and keep us posted.

Good luck,

Hi Kathy - welcome to the forum!

According to Pierce's Piano Atlas the serial number you posted would have been manufactured in 1986 (23 years ago).

Best of luck to you.

Nancy

As one who would have built a twenty year old Sohmer, thanks for the compliment. A 1986 Sohmer would have been Connecticut-built, one of the last before moving to PA.

Sohmers do stand up well against the test of time. Absolutely do have it checked before buying. (I know this is an old post, but I just now stumbled across this board.)

Dirty little secret - every now and then we would add 50 to the serial number to make the competition think we were building more pianos than we actually were!

Kathy sounds like you are going to be able to have a nice piano. I have had more than one student purchase a Sohmer piano over the years and they had a lovely tone and serviced the families wonderfully bringing many years of beautiful music to them. It would be even greater if you can talk the seller down by bringing your own tech to check it out as was suggested by Ryan, then you have the best of both worlds a wonderful piano for a great price. Good luck. Fascinating the tidbit about the 50 to the serial number now I'm going to start paying attention to the serial numbers.

I've had a couple Sohmer 45" studio consoles over the years.They reminded me of the Baldwin Hamilton 5000 in that furniture style casing. For some reason ,I very rarely see them in the preowned marketplace. A very nice piano especially for $1000 dollares.