Piano Valuing Questions

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I would be grateful if you would advise in relation to the valuation of my piano. It is an Ernst Kaps piano and the serial number is 25531. The piano was bought 20 years ago for £550.

My old piano tuner (who has now passed away) always said it was a great piano – he loved its rich tone/sound and said it was rare to find a piano that 'sings'.

He also said that I'd bought it for a bargain price.

His only criticism was the plastic keys – he said the piano looked like an old person with false teeth and that we should invest in ivory keys for it.

Unfortunately, we did not and some of the plastic keys have now come unstuck. However, I would imagine this is a straightforward fault to fix/restore.

Today, I had my piano valued by a different piano tuner (who also sells pianos). I was very surprised when he said it was worth nothing and that I'd be very lucky to get rid of it for as much as £200.

He complained about the keys. 

He also said that there was no longer a market for old pianos like mine – apparently better quality pianos can be bought cheaply from China.

I have attached some photos for you to look at and would very much appreciate any help or advice you may have.

It pains me to think that my piano could end up battered and abused in an old junk/scrap yard some day.

Kind regards,

Carol Fenn

Reply/ Hi Carol

I will try to help you as best I can.

Your Ernst Kapst piano was made in 1903 in Dresden, Germany.

It is an old piano, but, nevertheless, a good one.

These were fine pianos in their day.

Ernst Kapst started producing piano as early as 1858 and
discontinued piano production in 1930.

Your piano is overstrung (which is a good thing). All modern
pianos are overstrung. This means the bass strings cross
over the treble strings...

Overstrung pianos have longer strings and produce a much
better tone.

Now, what to do?...

A little investigation may be needed?

If your previous tuner had such nice things to say about
your piano, then, probably (unless he was just being nice)
your piano is in good condition.

I took a look at your pictures and the action does seem to
look like it has been re-conditioned at some point in the
last 20-30 years. Hard to tell without looking at it properly.

The advice from your second piano tuner looks a bit dodgy
to say the least...

It looks to me like he is running down your piano so he can
sell you a new Chinese one and make a tidy commission.

Most piano tuners have a deal going with their local piano
shop and get a nice commission when they pass on a
customer. Sometimes as much as 15%.

Much More than they get from tuning!

Of course, I could be completely wrong about this.
So please take my opinion lightly.

My advice is to ask a different piano tuner to come
and tune your piano. Don't say anything until he
has tuned it.

You should ask him what he thinks about your piano.

Ask questions like:

1) Are the tuning pins tight enough to hold the tuning?

2) What do you think it could be sold for?

Hopefully you will get an honest tuner (there are many
of them about).

You can see a list of qualified piano tuners here:
http://www.ukpianos.co.uk/piano-tuners.html

By the way. You can sell your piano on the ukpianos.co.uk
Piano Market free of charge.

Here is the link:
www.marketplace.ukpianos.co.uk

I wish you the best of luck.

Yours pianistically,
Graham Howard
UK Pianos

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