Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Got some cool news last night

I was at my dad's house last night and we got to talking about them having their retirement home built. They asked me if I wanted this, jokingly, and I said YES. They were pretty surprised by that.

[img]https://drive.google.com/open?id=1olC80YTDnNjOVqgfLi1P0KPr1uVfXHYD[/img]

This was my paternal grandmother's Yamaha baby grand... and that's all I know about it. It's been sitting in this same spot for 15 years now, unplayed. I asked for and received permission to send a piano technician to their house to get an idea of what scope of work it might need. Of course at bare minimum, it's horribly out of tune, to the point where I'm not even sure Scott Joplin would play on it.

My piano teacher recommended a few people to check out its mechanicals and appraise it. He thinks I shouldn't pass it up since Yamahas have a long-lasting reputation.

Anywho, that's exciting and I wanted to share it

I guess the Google Drive link does not embed.

Operator, I hope the piano checks out and you become the owner of a lovely piano!

Thank you

If you can get the serial number, we can tell you how old it is. And the model number, which should be on the plate, will help too. The people that hang out in the piano forum will be glad to offer free advice. But free pianos are not really free - although, since you are starting from zero cost, you are ahead. There are moving costs too - best to get a professional mover.

Sam

I'd love to get all that, as soon as they're done using it as furniture. I'm prepared to hire pro movers who are actually insured. I think my personal budget, which will include moving, tuning, and other work, will lie around $2,000. That's still great, considering I was planning on up to $5k for a Yamaha upright.

There we go.

What a great gift! If any repairs go over your budget, you can do usually do some of them now and the rest later.

Oh nice, I didn't know that I thought it might be an all or nothing kind of thing

Good luck - I hope it works out for you.

That depends on what may have to be done to make it playable, or serviceable as a reliable instrument.

Best of luck!

Regards,

That is beautiful and while “free isn’t free” you are getting a good brand that you know the history of. I think you will do well.

So lucky!
It looks like your folks just needed a shelf.

Ok, I'll "nerd" out a little bit because I love Yamaha grands.

I bet, based on the bench, that the piano is about 30-35 years old. And I bet it's a G-series. I'm not good with estimating sizes, especially from this angle, but either 5'3" or 5'8" (I'm guessing probably 5'3").

Who thinks I'm wrong?

In all seriousness, Operator, this is potentially really great. Yamaha makes very nice, durable and reliable instruments. And even if it's long neglected, it may tune up very nicely. And, as you say, you might spend $2000, but that could get you a very nice Yamaha grand. It's not likely you could get a nice instrument for that amount of money otherwise.

You also don't have to ask them to remove everything from the top of the piano, you could probably get a lot of information (age and series/model) just by removing the objects at the front, flipping up the lid at the hinge (rather than opening the lid completely) and then moving the music desk forward or back. That should let you see the serial number (which will be in black) and the series number, which will be raised up in the plate itself.

I just googled and found these photos, this is the info you're looking for:





If you have it inspected/evaluated by a piano tech, though, they will need to take everything off the top.

But first get the serial number and model number and that will allow people here to give you a ton of info.

Some kinds of repairs are always done together. For example, if a piano needs new strings the pinblock is usually replaced.

Also, remember that there are different levels of repair and replacement. It's possible the piano only needs tuning(or a couple of tunings because it's been so long since the last one), voicing, and regulation. But even then just tuning might be sufficient to have a very playable, if not perfect piano. If the piano needs voicing there are different levels of voicing taking from less than an hour up to a full day.

Don't know the condition of the piano when it was last played. I have to assume if a piano hasn't been touched very much or hardly at all, the action would be good as new except the tuning would go flat after a while.

A friend's father who is 90+ has an upright with a name "Treble" that is probably no longer manufactured. The old man plays old songs on the piano a few times a month and it's still in excellent condition. He is the only person who plays at home. The last time I played a song the tuning was off. I have a keyboard at home that is always in tune so I'd notice the tuning being flat.

Unless the piano came from a church where it is played regularly many times a week, I'm sure the hammer action is in perfect condition. Even a piano that is played a few times a month for many years would be in good condition, I'm sure not a lot of work needs to be done except tuning.

The only information known about the piano is that it hasn't been played for 15 years and may be around 30+ years old. IOW we only know that the piano hasn't been played much in the last 15 years. I don't think it's reasonable to assume the action would be as good as new.

I hope it works out, I would backcharge your parents for all restoration costs. It's criminal to neglect a piano so

Not tuning a piano for a long time does not usually cause a problem. Mostly, it might mean that when the piano is tuned it might need a pitch raise or several tunings to stabilize.

This is all great info it's still a few years off yet, sadly; they aren't breaking ground on the new house for quite a while. That's fine though. I don't have room for it at the moment. Would it be a bad idea to learn how to tune a piano on this platform? Or is that fine?