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Thanks, spanishbuddha! I appreciate that. Guess I have learned something here...

Sometimes I forget that PW is a global forum and that language, culture and colloquialism can be quite different in different parts of the world. I'll have to remember "been through the wars", although I was honestly not familiar with the phrase, other than literally.

I've never been shot at, but I have come close to being blown up a time or two, literally...

Rick

If you like the piano, and you have the funds, Blüthners rebuild very well. My first choice would be to send the piano to Cunningham Pianos.

1955 to 65 is not considered "old" for a Blüthner but at that age it could have all the problems you're saying it does, of course. Actually very young pianos can develop major problems although it's rarer. Blüthners can be prone to having cracked frames as well, but in a rebuild an experienced craftsman can rectify that fairly simply.

The thing is, this work costs thousands. You will have an excellent piano at the end of it, but for the same money you have the option to buy a different piano. It's entirely up to you. A new piano won't necessarily be better, it just depends what you like.

Good luck.

Oh and try to find a good technician!

Very common in Australia too. In fact, it's such a common turn of phrase here that people don't associate it with actual wars - even though that's it's derivation. I didn't even think of war times when I read about this piano's age.

It's common in the US as well. I certainly grew up knowing it. My mom was from Detroit and my dad from Philly/NY, so that's pretty all-American.

I hope we hear from Boots again.

Piano*Dad, we must come from worlds far apart, although in the same country. I have honestly never heard this idiom before, and I'm now older and retired, although I have 3 college degrees, and numerous certifications and professional licenses.

Also, I Googled the phrase, "been through the wars" and it is indeed a British English idiom. Perhaps you've heard it where you and your parents are from, but I never have, until this thread.

And, BDB, this discussion is indeed part of Boots thread.

Rick

I wonder if this is a concert grand...my Bluthner (baby grand) is from 1950 and the keys are not ivory. My tech suspects that they are made of veal bone. This is the iron curtain age, so materials may not be what they were before 1950.

I am with you Rick. I have two Masters Degrees and I have not heard this phrase used in this context before.

The phrase "been through the wars" is very common in the UK, and simply means that something is pretty worn out or damaged.

The keyboard could well be ivory at that age since Blüthner's seemed to stop using that somewhere around 1970. Maybe they are some kind of bone instead of ivory but I haven't heard of that being used on Blüthners. Not hearing of something being used does not mean that it wasn't used, just means I don't know about it!

The OP hasn't told us the size of the piano, which I'm interested in too.

I recognized the way it was used but for many old pianos in Italy, France, Germany, Poland and Eastern Europe there would be a few left that survived both WW1 and WW2. Who knows how? The “rode hard and put away wet” is horse terminology. If you rode a horse fast and kept it moving the horse sweats. Your supposed to clean off the sweat and put a blanket on the horse in the winter so the horse would not get cold and possibly get sick. Pianos are somewhat like horses. Big, expensive, and high maintenance.

"...The only war(s) I can think of between 1955 and 1965 is the Vietnam war...."

It is so curious a turn of phrase (in the US) that I wondered, momentarily, if the OP could have misread the numeral 3, turning it into a 5. From a manufacture date of 1935, the other statements would be more cogent. Why only one 5 was turned into a 3 could have happened in the course of copying the number several times by hand, then typing it.

Consider the hypothetical of a sidewalk, littered with banana peels. A passerby might tread on one and take a pratfall, yet miss the next one.

I'm just guessing, ok.

As for, "Wars? What wars?" it seems to me we had the undeclared war in Korea between those years, and the War on Poverty during the Johnson administration, and even the War on Drugs. Why any should have influenced a German-made piano is something I can't explain. But it does make sense that Canada, being a member of the Commonwealth since 1931, looks at least as much toward the United Kingdom as regards its culture and language, as to the United States.

The OP, Boots, writes with such sincerity, I think the answer must lie somewhere within that range. BTW Boots, if you can find the piano's serial number, everything else can be figured out from that. I'm going to agree with those who suggested that there is no real reason to strip off the keys and pay to have it taken to the dump, considering that a young piano student of slender means might like it, or a student of piano technology, or a person who is able to provide a place for it with more stable ambient humidity.

Before you get your new piano, please consider that you might afford a whole-house humidity control device for less money than a few years of 4-times-yearly tuning.[color:#000066][/color]

Per his profile, Boots is a truck driver, so very possibly could be on a run. Perhaps we should leave the speculation alone and wait for his reply re the serial number, the reference to the piano surviving war and what humidity control he has tried.

I know the term quite well through "being through the wars "perhaps surviving domestic upheavals, or perhaps surving neglect for many years.(by a previous owner ?) However a serial number would
certainly help.

I feel as if I have "been through the wars "is like saying "I feel like a train wreck"
Many an unappreciated piano have been "through the wars " and then get given
away or sold ,taken care of, " bloom again. "and are loved again !