Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Would you buy a really out of tune 6 year old grand piano

Its a 186cm Hoffman grand piano, extremely out of tune (hasn't been tuned for 4 years) and has been sitting in a storage shed. There are beginning signs of rust on the steel strings, and a few of the copper wound base strings has a slight bit of oxidation.

The upside of this piano is that its action is very good, and hammers are basically new (hardly played).

Didn't see any cracks in the soundboard, but wasn't looking that hard.

Question is, would you risk buying this?

How much are they asking for it?

It also depends on what kind of climate the piano was exposed to in the storage shed.

If you don't know what to look for, hire a recommended piano technician to look more closely at this piano.

Can you listen through the out-of-tuneness to the basic tonal quality? It's great that the action is good - that's a good sign. Is the overall tone powerful and meaty in the base, overall quite lively, even though out of tune? If so, that's another good sign. The BEGINNINGS of rust may be ok, but advanced rust wouldn't be good.

Is nobody there to tune a few unisons?

If it's priced as a core for rebuild, it's probably OK. Pianos stored in sheds without climate control of some kind are likely to have "issues". Plan your maintenance budget accordingly.

This is a 6 year old piano? Why would anyone consider rebuilding a 6 year old piano? Seems to me a 6 year old piano that needs to be rebuilt, is not worth rebuilding.

The question is impossible to answer without knowing the price.

Mark, you are probably right. I think storage is the issue on this one.

It's not uncommon to encounter a piano that hasn't been tuned in a long time. As others have indicated above, the fact that it's been stored in a shed is a bigger concern than the lack of tuning.

As always, condition is paramount with a second-hand piano, and the fact that this one has been exposed to the elements for quite a while may be cause for concern. From posts I've read here, I understand that the weather in certain parts of Australia can be pretty severe, and that piano technicians can be hard to find in certain areas.

More important than "is it in tune" is "can it hold a tune after a tuning is performed?" This is something a technician can assess while inspecting, but if you can't find a technician, then what do you do? You'll want to scrutinize the pin block to make sure it has no cracks (among other things).

My wife is from Jakarta, and they have pretty severe weather too. "Special" sort of considerations are that you want to look for any glue joints that may have broken down due heat and/or humidity. Also look for mold.

You can search online for how to inspect a piano. There are a lot of resources that will help you know what to look for. At the same time, if you can get a proper piano technician to look it over, that's your best bet.

OT, 'mossies' (WWII British Mosquito Fighter/Bomber) used to fall apart on the ramps in Australia. They were wooden (balsa/spruce) aircraft using glues designed for British temperature and humidity.

Edit: Once they changed the glue, the problem disappeared.