Anyone had any recent experience with having their piano reconditioned?

I am thinking of having mine done. It is a Rogers & Sons circa 1915 – 1920 (around the time Rogers were making Bechsteins in the UK and – I believe - using some of the design technology on their own pianos).

Although the case is a little tatty in one or too places it is not bad-looking. It has a lovely sound and a nice easy-to-play mechanism. It was reconditioned about 25 years ago and looks in good condition inside (felts, etc) with no broken springs or bits. It could do with slight regulation but the main problem is that it is a little noisy (odd clicks and chatter) and – I think – getting noisier, as I am giving it much more use recently than over the previous years, when it has stood unused for some very long periods. Tightening some of the screws on the noisier notes helped quite a bit, but there are a couple which I can’t tighten and on others, clicks are coming back.

I’m not confident that my tuner is the right person to ask. He did not seem too keen or indeed knowledgeable when I asked him about regulation, so I guess anything more than that is not likely to be his forte. Shops just want to sell me a new one.

I would love a grand but don’t have the space. I am reluctant to replace it with another upright. I find few pianos in shops which are as nice to play or sound as good.

Does anybody know how much a full recondition is likely to cost? My gut feeling is that I could probably buy an awful lot of improvement for the money I would have to spend on even a half-decent replacement.

Any ideas, advice would be welcome.

Mole

I had my piano reconditioned about 18 months ago and have been a bit disappointed to be honest. It is much more responsive now , but the tone is definitely not what it was The trouble is that when they fit new felts, etc, it is likely to change the sound. Also, they had to come back twice to re-voice it because when it had been played on for a while some of the notes became quite harsh.

It cost about £900, but for that they did quite a bit of work - took the innards away to their workshop to sort things out and then spent about three hours back here. I'm still pleased I had it done, as it had got to the point where the response was poor, but I'd thought I would regain the sound I fell in love with when I bought it in 1982, and I certainly haven't!

I don't think most tuners would do a complete reconditioning, but they should be able to recommend a firm who will. My tuner recommended the firm we used, but now even she says the tone isn't what she'd expect from a Welmar of that date.

Thanks BM, I will certainly bear in mind what you say about the hammer felts and the sound. Several hammers would benefit from a bit of tweaking, but generally the sound is fine, so if I go ahead, I might ask them not to re-do the hammers?

I would certainly give a lot to stop the clicks (which apparently only I notice?). I think my ear is more attuned to them.

One concern I have is how well this relatively old piano will stand up if I progress on past G8, which is my ultimate goal – or even if I don’t, with the stuff I am playing (or trying to play) now. Might have a bearing on how much I budget for spending now.

Mole

I play past grade 8 on my grandmother's upright which has the most beautiful tone and resonance

If you love the tone of your piano, see if they can just fix the technical issues (i.e. the clicking) and not mess with the tone (no re-voicing).

I can recommend this guy and I know he will travel.

Aaron Shackleford

He's certainly not impossibly far away and his website looks good. I might try to get to have a look at his showroom.

Mole

Hi mole, if you do go to his showroom, leave the credit card at home - he has some wonderful steinway restorations going on.

Seriously, we bought our Schimmel upright from him and he did its first home tuning yesterday. He is a very nice honest guy who really knows pianos. His speciality is restorations.

The biggest problem is the cost. For most pianos the market value of the reconditioned instrument will be less than the cost of reconditioning. It is really only economic to recondition/restore the big name pianos such as Steinways and Bosendorfers (and not even all of those). Of course you might be rich, and you may not care about the cost - but if that is the case you should just buy a new Fazioli or similar.

For the price of reconditioning the average upright (or at least - for not a great deal more) you can buy a better instrument. Not a new one, but something second-hand that has been housed in a stable environment and has seen little use.

Reconditioning the action fully costs about 1000 pounds. Well, it is a lot of work, and a lot of new parts are installed. If the strings need replacing too, or if you opt for repolishing as well, or if the sound board or bridges or pin-block need repair then the cost quickly becomes prohibitive.

As reconditioning completely changes the character of the instrument it is not even a way of preserving the particular piano sound and feel that you have come to know and love.

This is the thing they don't tell you! The firm claimed that they would be able to regain the sound for me provided I helped by listening as they adjusted things, but this has not proved to be the case.

I'm still pleased I had mine done though. I don't think I would have found as nice a piano for my £900 despite what Tom says (though of course I didn't look, so who knows?).

Thanks everyone.

All very good points. and taking them into account, it is perhaps the case that mine does not need a full recondition. The work it needs is perhaps best described as a moderately long list of (if I’m honest) pretty minor items. I just want it perfect! Really I am hoping to avoid a continual sequence of minor piecemeal repairs – especially as I have no knowledge of my tuner’s ability to cope with them.

I think I’ll get someone to come and look at it to give me a better opinion (it would be nice to have a recommendation of someone in the Southampton area?) before I make any decision. I’m not in any terrible hurry.

Mole