How Much Does it Cost to Restore a Piano?

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[@Katxo1831]

I have a 1895 Henry F. Miller piano and I would love to restore, but the inside definitely looks her age so it would really pricey.

[@travisbirket3987]

When I was a teenager my church had a 1906 piano idk the brand but they were giving it away. It was in really bad shape. No one wanted it so i took it with the intention of restoring it. I quickly realized I had no idea what i was getting into. I wasn't able to get very far and my mom made me get rid of it. I hope to try again someday on something else

[@joseph_burdock]

Thanks so much for making this video! I have a 1930 Chickering & Sons grand piano and am thinking of getting it restored. Very helpful, thanks!

[@Crimsonaut]

great video as always. thank you! could you do a video regarding the various types of wood used on pianos (ebony, mahogany and walnut)? I'm interested to know about how all of them hold up over time and if any of them negatively effect the sound quality of the piano in any way. I'd also be interested to know about the various finishes (satin, polished, matte, etc) and the pros and cons of each. thanks Robert! love your channel!

[@pasijutaulietuviuesas9174]

There's a good broken piano in my parents' home. I've lost hope in bringing it back to life.

[@danielc9312]

There are a lot of good tutorials on KZbin for piano repair. You could try your hand at fixing it yourself? You would be surprised at what information is available.

[@TheMusicalKnokcers]

@@danielc9312 there are few things you can DIY repair, so it is most likely impossible to repair your grandma's piano. Tutorials on youtube only show refinishing the wood.

[@mj0037]

Thank you. I have a Knabe square grand piano and hoping to restore some day..

[@georgeowen2083]

I just picked up a 1909 tiger stripe figure mahogany Schiller for free last week for my niece to learn on and other than me assuming it needed a tuning and the right brass pedal needing to be reattach it looks like it just came off the showroom floor. I admittedly know nothing about pianos and the guy came to tune it and was amazed at the condition and asked if I had it restored or new if it had been restored I said not that I am aware of? He started looking through it and says it looks like everything is all original and would I be interested in selling it? I asked him how much he was thinking? He said he wanted to make a few phones calls so I started researching. I found a couple of the same piano’s restored from 17-20 grand and I about fell over. He came back in and took some photos inside and out. Went back outside and made some more calls. Then he came back in and said he had some people that were interested. He then offered me 10 grand. I was well I just got it I haven’t done a lot of research on it that may be a incredible offer or it may be horrible I don’t know. He then says okay how about 12? I said again I don’t know? He says well I will start tuning it and why don’t I do some research and when he gets done we can talk again. It took him about 2 hours and I was finding the same roughly the same data but estimated the value a little higher since it essentially a survivor, meaning it had never been or needed restored. Long story short we ended up agreeing on 15k no charge for the tuning, he moves the piano and he would bring me another piano he had so that my niece could still have a piano to learn on. If the lady I had gotten the piano from wasn’t so rude I would have have offered her some of the money. Let that be a lesson to people people to not be assholes!

[@WarrenPostma]

Just like the question "how much does it cost to fix a car"... It depends. A good piano tech can appraise a piano and let you know if you're going to get any return on investment. If a piano is something you are sentimental about or it's a brand that others are sentimental about (Bosies, Steinies, M&H) certainly you will not lose all you spent. But these are not investments, they are instruments.

[@JoanKSX]

I have an upright piano Kawai KST-5 which I believe it is made in Japan and in the year of 1971. Since our old home is small and totally cramped, I had no choice but to place it near the window. And the beautiful reddish natural wood colour of the piano has faded due to excessive years of strong sunlight exposure (the country I'm staying in Malaysia so we are having tropical forest as well, humid and hot all year long) and the piano keyboard lid is shedding wood dust at the hinge site and the screw were missing and the paint work has chipped. Maybe a little bit of voicing is needed as well especially pianossimo is kinda hard to be expressed? Though the inside of the piano still looks pretty good and the sounding is still pretty good as well. We asked our technician before but he said it is not worth to restore the piano as the cost of restoration would most probably would let me buy another better used / refurbished Japanese piano. By the way he suggested keeping as it is since the sounding quality of the piano is still pretty decent though and the keys are still working. But I do wish I could possibly restore it to as close as the original state. I really don't know what to expect though.

[@josephzhang195]

I watched a number of your videos, I have a rebuild 1905 Knabe piano (6'5"), it sounds extremely well, like the new Steinways. The interesting thing I found that the nameplate on the keyboard cover is Knabe Piane Co, not WM Knabe Co. is any difference?

[@benjaminsmith2287]

I think the point of restoration is to get an instrument with a quality that people think is gone. The reason people value Stradivarius so much is a belief that the wood was special in those instruments. Putting aside the controversy that people can't tell them from modern instruments in blind tests, that applies to people believing in the golden-era of piano making. They are perceived as having a special quality that isn't present in more recent pianos. It's costly to restore and rebuild many pianos that were expensive to begin with. But there is a particular pride/satisfaction in owning a classic piano from a highly regarded make.

[@WarrenPostma]

The special quality known as nostalgia, and the human brain's way of inventing things that are not there, and generating chemicals that make you feel better, the so-called Placebo Effect.

[@themike97_58]

I think there is definitely a satisfaction, at least in my brain, to giving a once mighty instrument new life. Great makers like Chickering, Knabe, Weber, etc from the late 19th early 20th century that either no longer exist or are stencil brands under new manufacturers like samick are becoming rarer to find and they play/sound just as good as modern instruments when in good condition. its like restoring a classic car. it may not necessarily be the best use of your money and time from a practical point of view, and the modern stuff has way more in the way of creature comforts, but 100 year old pianos have a story and character that new pianos just cant reproduce.

[@ronan1686]

I have an 1886 Waldemar of Berlin piano, hoping to get it restored at some point

[@npcDroneClass]

would love to fix granny's old 50s upright chickering, needs wheels, refinish (satin), and a new hammer for middle C, and definitely a tuning... more of a sentimental restoration. if I gots the cash, i'll do it. sounds really nice too, better than the parlor grand I currently have (Bergmann), heck I prefer it to all those yamahas I played at the conservatory. its sound is indescribable, almost like an entirely different instrument compared to the more recent builds.

[@adriataylor7534]

What about for repairing a keyboard? are the factors for repairing a keyboard the same for a piano, or does it depend on the type/name brand of keyboard and the size? What about when it comes to odors when you open the fallboard? Thanks.

[@WarrenPostma]

dead mice? Open it up and vacuum them out. Repairs on a keyboard seldom constitute a "rebuild". Electronic keyboard repair is a matter of swapping out working parts for the broken parts. The actions are not that complex, and there are typically no refinishing tasks. Repairing a keyboard is like repairing a car; Buy new part, install. Done.

[@BeatBandit]

Philosophical question. A rebuilt 1920s Steinway, is it still a Steinway?

[@autumnowl5987]

If the build quality and sound is as good as an original, made with real craftsmanship, then yes, in my opinion. Then nobody would notice the difference anyway :) Its not an original steinway, but it is a steinway But if its more like a "cheap copy", then of course not

[@tobiasandrews3778]

I believe Steinway calls them "Stein-was"

[@zavier3644]

Daniel Dui not really, Steinway has this bullshit ass Apple esque vibe to its brand. It’s still a nice piano but it’s not really “Steinway quality” when it’s rebuilt unless Steinway rebuilt it with their parts. This wouldn’t be the same with a no name company because no one ever cared about it. I hope you know what I mean, I wouldn’t want a rebuilt Steinway but rather a rebuilt no name piano because a Steinway is still overpriced when it’s rebuilt but the pianos are the same just a different shell if it was replaced with all the same parts...

[@jenh157]

What about lubrication?

[@derekbaqueiro5021]

Mr. Estrin I would love to hear your opinion about the piano brand new GB1K. thanks

[@mr.enderstryx9134]

Derek Ritzhagen do you mean the Yamaha gb1k

[@benjaminsmith2287]

It's OK, but it's a Yamaha built to a budget price. GC1 is a better choice, IMO.

[@erlindacornish5628]

It's in London I got

[@kamenotost22]

Can someone answer me this please: I have and old 54 inch tall upright Zimmermann piano from my grandmother, built around 1936 and imported from Germany.. It was played about the first 15 years of its life and it is kept in extremely good condition (at least from the outside, I am not a piano technician). I want to restore this piano. Do you believe that it is worth it to restore it? Did Zimmermann have a good reputation as a company back then? Thank you.

[@DavidArdittiComposer]

Good summary of the subject, and I think your figures are in the right ballpark. Most of the time pianos over 50 years old need total rebuilding, and, as you say, this is uneconomic except for very high-end pianos. Second-hand pianos described as 'reconditioned' tend to have had only a superficial makeover which may have left fundamental problems with the piano (e.g. a decayed pinblock) unsolved, and such pianos can be very poor buys. If you are considering one, it's essential to have it looked at by an independent expert first. It stands to reason that if a 100-year-old piano is being offered under $10,000, it can't have been thoroughly restored.

[@TheMusicalKnokcers]

50 year old for a piano is not that much, if i'ts an upright I agree it's most llikely destroyed because it's not expensive so the people that get them mistreat them (humidity, hot temperaature, no tuning etc) but grand piano owners tend to be much more cautious. In europe you find plenty of grand piano from 19th century for less than 1000€, for less than 2500€ some have been partially restored and around 10 to 15k they are in perfect shape and have been fully restored. So as long as restoring costs less than 10000€ you haven't lost any money. Unfortunatelly restoration often costs from 20 to 40k.

[@uyuyuyuuyuyuy]

he is talking about top brands,restoring soundboards etc..Any piano can be restored for much less if all it needs is some new action parts.

[@kristopherdetar4346]

When novices restore a piano, it is nothing short of a fair to midland job of case striping and refinishing on the outside only. A true restoration involves piano action, belly work, restringing and regulation. It takes many years to learn these skill sets. So the $15K to $35K cost is warranted. Most complete grand piano case restoration alone runs about $10K. A new rebuilt action will run another $10K, restringing will be anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 or more depending on the rebuilder.

[@pantopia3518]

what about upright pianos

[@WarrenPostma]

seldom worth it. you could spend the rebuild money on another already high quality upright (used) and spend less and be further ahead, almost always. If the upright means something to you fine, but you'll never ever recoup the cost. Even on a steinway upright.

[@comms9803]

Not much if you're doing it by yourself!

[@ctiley2212]

"dot caaam"???

[@oldgoat381]

You would pay that much to restore a cheap Asian production piano if it meant enough to you and you had the money. I know of someone that had a 140 year old Bösendorfer completely restored despite being an inferior instrument in many ways.

[@benjaminsmith2287]

Bosendorfer has a rich history, their pianos can be valued and restored. Asian is too broad a term to make any sense, IMO and plenty of Japanese and some Korean production pianos aren't particularly cheap or cheaply made. But Japanese pianos just started to come to the USA in the 1960s unlike European pianos from the early 20th century or late 19th century. Japanese pianos had to be mostly machine-made to meet demand. They set the standard for quality for production pianos but still hand-built a relatively small amount of high-end pianos. I don't think Yamaha and Kawai want their pianos restored. Japanese generally like newer products and Yamaha and Kawai's new pianos are much improved over their older ones. They don't really think of a golden era like Americans and perhaps some Europeans do. I don't know about Korean pianos and the Chinese piano industry is young, vibrant, and is geared at the present to future, not the past. Restored instruments are for those that feel nothing new is comparable to the sound and feel of pianos from the golden era.

[@broundothisrightneow]

Bösendorfers are amazing though

[@davidlucey543]

Why not buy a brand new one??

[@itsthepiano1291]

Because you may bond with your personal piano, and it can feel like replacing a pet. You wouldn't get a new dog just vecause your current dog has a broken leg or something.

[@garycitro1674]

Even without the "bonding" issue mentioned below, it depends on the piano. I:f it is a pre-WWII Steinway, for example, and you can put 20K or so into it to get it like new, it's worth the investment, as the piano will be worth far more than that.

[@garycitro1674]

I have to put about $17K into the innards alone on my 1941 Baldwin L. It may seem quite pricey, but after you watch this video you might think it a bargain!: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGa4dnmFgaZ8r5I