Piano World Home Page Forums Other Keyboard Instruments Mechanical Musical Instruments J&C Fisher player piano

Does anyone have an idea of how much a J&C FIsher player piano upright, serial # 133880, with original strings might be worth? It's in excellent conditions, except that the strings, which are the original ones, might need some work/tuning. We have one in the family and wonder if it is worth investing in getting it tuned as we have not been able to find anyone locally to work on it because they are the original strings and they do not want to touch them. Any advice? Thanks,

Im not sure of what value to place on it , but a check of your serial number states it was produced from 1933 and after.

Personely myself if the case is in pretty good nick and the keys are in tact its well worth considing having it restored/retuned.Though it wont be cheap they are a nice heirloom to keep in the family and something that can be passed along.The other thing you can keep in mind , is the younger generation may not have that much interest in it, thinking it will only play old songs , but there are still firms around making and selling rolls and there are hits from Elton john , billy joel , The bangles, Wham etc.
Regards Daniel

Thanks, DanAustralia1973, for the info. Any leads on web sites where I might get an appraisal?

The piano atlas says 1910.

You should be able to find someone to tune it. If they do not have the confidence in their ability to tune it, you would not want them to tune any piano you might have.

The value of this piano is probably not a lot, even though Fischer made very good pianos. The problem as that as a piano gets that old, there are a lot of things that show their age. Restoration costs a lot, more than a new piano, unfortunately.

BDB can you please check your private messages

I would be happy to help you out and give you some round about figures that you could expect to partially or fully restore it. We are in process of restoring 4 full size upright player pianos at the moment. At times, there are options, and at times there are not.

BDB is right on the money when he says it is not worth alot.
Heres how I figure value on such a piano:
We did a restoration a few years ago - I opened the lid, and there was a decal on the underside that said "price $750.00". After I chuckled, I did some research to find out what the income per capita was for the 1920s when it was built. The average salary was $1236.00 per year - so Ill give you a raise to $1500 per year and that player upright is 1/2 your salary.
COmparing it to today - it would cost $18,000.

What is the price of a total restoration, new strings, pinblock, action parts, rebuild the player properly, refinish etc....? About $19,000. What is it "worth"? Not alot. The only reason you would restore these pianos is if you want to keep them forever, certainly not to resell.
Dave

I agree on the date 1910. However the value of the piano realy depends on the market for that era piano.It would help a lot to see pictures of the case and the actual player parts.
Is it a duo art ,ampico,welty minion.ect.
I recently restored a J&C Fisher upright 1916 with a dark mahogany case,mother of perl inlay in the fall board for the name.Was an Ampico player with the valve chest seperate from the pnewmatics.Mechanical tracking mechinism.
This piano ,restoring the player I charged $4500.00,The action was $650.00 ,included new hammers.The Pinblock and restringing ,sound board was in great condition ,deacls and lettering to $2500.00.Key bed felts $120.00.
This piano was a family piano handed down through the generations so there wasn't any question there but the value of this piano after the restoration and tuning and regulation was around $10,000.00
Don't do the restoration to make a profit,it won't hapen.The player piano's of today, piano disk for one, are a much beter value.Although the old players are fading away,I see less of them as the years go by.
much more went into this piano which I have left out , and the customer spent $11,200.00 on the whole job.So 11,200 + value before 1,200 = $12,400. which was more than the piano was worth.Insurance co. did insure it for $13,000
If the strings are that old there will be very litle strech left in the strings and some may even break during tuning,this is enevitable and should be expected.Always get estimates from Tech's in person and in writing.