Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Well...my piano is gone thanks to Modern Piano Movers!

My piano is now officially shipped and will be stored in a climate controlled warehouse until I move into my house in Florida.
I wanted to post this so that anyone who was curious about Modern Piano Movers would have some additional information about how they operate.

They did a great job so far, lots of clear communication, they answered questions promptly, answered the phones, and coordinated the move well.
The movers themselves were professional, and polite. They packed the living heck out of both my piano and bench and took great care to take pictures of it and all of the existing blemishes and they noted each and every one on a schemetic so that we'd all know how it went out of my house.

So far so good, I'm very impressed with them.

Now to be without my piano for two months is going to be torture! I pulled out my Casio keyboard and can say that it's NOTHING like the experience of sitting at an acoustic piano....so I'm anxious for the move to happen!

Sounds like you're off to a very good start with MPM; that's so encouraging to read and should give you some assurance that all will continue to go well. Meanwhile, back to the Casio ...

Regards,

Congratulations, so for, Bob!

Hopefully, you're off to such a good start with Modern Piano Movers, the remainder of the move will be the same. First impressions are usually the most important, and a reflection of more of the same in the future, as a general rule.

As for the Casio, I haven't played mine in a while, although I enjoy pounding on it. My 7 acoustic pianos keep me busy enough as is...

Rick

Rick. I have just realised you have 7 acoustic pianos. I knew about the Yamaha and the Kawai/Howard.....

Thanks, Joe.

All my pianos have some age and wear on them, but so do I!

My Yamaha C7 (circa 1978) is by far my finest piano. Sally Phillips has been to my home once and done some tuning, regulation and voicing on the C7. It was worth her fee just to watch her in action, and she let me help some too. So, I figured that was a two way benefit... getting a piano tech lesson from one of the best in the world, plus the benefit of the improvement in my piano. It still sounds good, and I've played it hard, and often.

I have a Baldwin R Artist grand (5'8") from 1999. I bought it mostly because I got a good buy on it, from a private seller. Nice pianos can be incredibly expensive, and my financial means are comfortable but limited. So, the Baldwin R was hard to pass up. Plus, it sounds great and plays well.

Of course, you know about the Howard/Kawai 550 grand (5'10" circa 1969). The Howard 550 has some age on it but not much wear at all; it wasn't played much by the original owner. It sounds and plays great, though the bass strings could use replacing due to age. I have given that piano to my 16 year old granddaughter, who took piano lessons for a while. But my son has yet to find room for it in his house, although he says they still want it. Moral of that story... do not give a piano to someone who may not take it in a timely manner. However, I still play the Howard/Kawai 550 on occasion. It is a very nice piano.

I have a Kawai K48A 48" upright (circa 1969) that I purchased from the estate of a professional pianist, piano teacher, and Church organist. It was very well maintained, and was in tune when I bought it (which is unusual) and I got it at a very good price. I actually play the Kawai upright quite often. I have the Kawai upright, along with my Yamaha C7 and Baldwin R in my home. My other acoustics are located in my piano shop built on to my detached garage.

I have an older Henry Miller spinet upright that my late wife inherited from her mother. It is more of an heirloom than a fine piano, but it still plays well and sounds good to be a spinet.

I have an older Wellington upright from 1910 that was given to me by a friend and former coworker, who taught carpentry and cabinet-making at the technical college where I used to work. Someone gave him the piano so he could make a wine bar out of the cabinet, but he said when he played a few keys on it, he thought it sounded too good to destroy and cannibalize. And, he was right! He actually brought it to my place, and helped me offload it from his trailer. I've had a ball with it and recorded a few music videos and posted them on my YT channel. One of the videos I made playing the Wellington back in July 2019 has over 250,000 views. It's still an old saloon piano, but a lot of fun to play (if you like old saloon pianos:-).

And, last, but not least, I have an old Conover upright from 1910 also (1910 must have been a good year for upright pianos:-). I actually purchased that piano several years ago, and refinished the cabinet and did some refurbishment on it. I kept it a year or so, and when I got ready to move on to another piano project, my sister-in-law wanted to buy it from me. So, I sold it to her for a whopping $150 (way less than I had in it), and moved it to her house for her. She enjoyed it for several years, and called me a few months ago and asked me if I wanted it back, for free, if I'd move it out of her house. She had arthritis in her hands so bad, she could no longer play the piano and wanted to put a china cabinet where the piano was. So, since I was familiar with the piano, I agreed to take it back for free.

I made a music video playing the old Conover about two weeks ago, and it has almost 4500 views already. I think most of my YouTube fans like the old upright, saloon pianos, fast boogie-woogie, blues, and my original songs and arrangements. But I think that, mostly, they like to see how much fun I have with my pianos, not that I can play all that well. But you don't have to play well to have fun!

Didn't mean to horn in on PianoWVBob's thread, but just elaborating a bit on my 7 acoustic pianos!

Rick

Rickster, I was sharing your videos with my friends long before I know who you were here on PW. They're great fun. That's what it's all about.

Thanks, John, I appreciate that!

One of my older YT music videos has over 5,860,000 views. Not sure what that means, and not everyone likes me or my music videos. But I think a lot of viewers do. It is a good feeling to think that I may have helped to put a smile on the face of half that many folks.

Plus, I get a lot of comments and emails from people who say that watching my music videos on YT makes them want to learn to play the piano. So, I figure that's a good thing too!

Rick

Great news so far. Here’s hoping you and your piano are happily reunited soon. At least you can keep your fingers in shape on the Casio.

Too bad you don’t live near Rickster. It sounds like he could use some help playing his 7 acoustic pianos regularly. Dang 7 acoustic pianos!

Rick - you should seriously consider putting in a separate large studio with small kitchen and bath and wet bar. Stackable tool boxes. Large well light workbench. Kind of a gigantic man cave with pianos. 7 pianos!

Keep us posted!

Yeah! You know if I lived near him I wouldn't even need a piano, just a key to his house!

I certainly will.

"Climate Controlled" has become a catch phrase. Does anyone ever ask what that means exactly? If you have a huge warehouse, it's kind of difficult to keep the heat even. And are they controlling the humidity or just Temperature? You need different machines for that. Are they insinuating that the tuning will stay close to what it was when picked up?

-chris

They said the storage was humidity and temperature controlled. That's what I know at this point.

Here is the link to their web site explaining it

https://www.modernpiano.com/storageInformation.aspx

Love the thread title. I was almost afraid to look ...