Gramma made grampa buy it a LONG time ago - long before I was around, and that’s 30 years now. It’s probably an antique and worth money.
Except.
The keys stick, the sound board is cracked (which is akin to having a huge split up the backside of a guitar), it’s out of tune within two weeks of a tuning …
It’s only purpose is an extra seat when there’s too many people in the house, a perch for family photographs and other tchotchkes, and a waste of 24 square feet of floor space.
“So why don’t you just fix it”, I hear some of you saying. Well, like I said, the sound board is cracked and the keys stick. Repairing it would entail taking it apart, replacing all the broken parts (i.e., all of the parts), and run in the neighborhood of $2500, about the same as a new one. And these mechanical problems mean that a donation to a church or other organization would be … well … MEAN!
If the piano had some sentimental value to it I suppose I’d feel differently, but it’s been a piece of junk since I played ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ on it for the first time at the age of four.
Now a pragmatic person would take an axe to it and toss the pieces in the fireplace. And while I see it as a useless piece of junk (this coming from a pianist, mind you) I’m not that pragmatic.
You could run an ad in the paper clearly specifying that the piano needs a lot of work,and maybe get a couple of hundred off it from a diehard collecter. Either that, or try eBay maybe. You’d be amazed at what people will buy. Just make sure to make it clear that it’s broken, so it can’t come back at you later.
And if that fails, you can always make a bonfire out of it.
Oh my gosh! Someone gave you $1000 for breaking your baby? (Oops, read the title wrong; wrong kind of “grand”…)
I’d put an ad in the paper–something along the lines of “Free baby grand. Needs work. Take it away as is.” Someone may fix them as a hobby; you never know.
I say you should turn it into an interesting piece of artwork. Take it apart, reassemble the pieces in a way that suits your interest in it, and then you’ve got a creative thing to have in your house that will draw attention to and could possibly be sold if you get tired of it for more than it’s worth now.
On the other hand, you could send it to me along with a hot glue gun and about 500 hundred sticks of glue and let me do that for you. I’ve got all the supplies except for a hot glue gun right now. I just won’t guarantee that you’ll like it if I do it for you.
My brother had a party before they tore down a wall to enlarge the Master Bedroom…it was a “Tear Down the Wall” party.
Actually, we didn’t tear down the wall but we were given paint and markers the night before they tore it out. There was this aweful mural that was so popular in the 50’s and 60’s on that wall so it made it even more fun. Buncha drunkards (some in costume as it was close to Halloween) painting and drawing on the wall, just like our parents told us never to do.
Just a thought. You could hold an outdoor party and the piano is the reason. Paint it white first then have paints and brushes for your guests. Not sure what you could do with it after words…a lawn ornament! Who knows…some one on ebay might actually buy it!
Make it into an indoor herb garden (cooking herbs, that is).
Put it outside for a great flower bed.
Get some glass shelves and mirrors and turn it on end against the wall for a cool curio cabinet.
Have a “fish pond” insert made to fit (not really that expensive) put a small fountain in the middle, get some koi, and have the coolest indoor pond in town.
If it were mine, and I really wish it were, I would do the fish pond thing, leave out the fountain, put a glass top on it and put some barstools around it for one cool wet bar.
We had a Steinway baby grand for years that was given to my father. It had a cracked sounding board, and my folks sold it in 1969 for $2000, after having owned it for about ten years. It was just getting too expensive to move the thing from town to town, and the next house we moved into had no room for it. Have you had yours appraised? Maybe it is worth more than you think (that would be cool!).
Pammipoo - am not sure that will work because this area is … well, it’s not a hot market for baby grands, let’s just put it that way
ssskuggiii - Well, yeah. But then a piece of junk is taking up 24 square feet of floor space but in an alternate form But that WOULD be a lot of fun, eh?
SpiderWoman - well, this isn’t a highly-polished Steinway. It’s a scuffed-up-brown Story and Clark that spent several years in an abandoned building before my grandfather picked it up for $25 at auction.
THAT is the best idea I’ve seen so far And if my grandfather didn’t already have a bar I’d go for that one.
Grampa and I are still talking; we’re not sure what to do cos both of us hate the idea of destroying the thing, but we’ll figure something out.
And if anyone has any better ideas please let me know
and is it tuneable? Maybe it would like to come live with me. I hate to see a musical instument turned into a flower pot or bar if it still can make music.
I don’t know if you’ve had a repairs estimate done, but since the soundboard is cracked and you say it goes out of tune within two weeks of tuning, the reconditioning could be very costly.
It seems as if the tuning pegs slip pretty quickly, which means that the board they’re in may need to be replaced. That ain’t cheap, as it involves restringing the piano. The rest of the stuff, such as stuck keys, are a no-brainer. Pianos come apart pretty easily for stuff like that. But the pegboard is another matter.
I agree that you should advertise in the paper or on eBay, being as forthright as possible. Even if you only get $500 for it, that’s half a G you didn’t have before.
I brought up these ideas tonight to some friends and my sister decided this is exactly what she’s going to do with it. (The idea of an indoor fish pond was a close runner up til we realized the piano would weigh about 2 1/2 tons once filled with water )
I do apologize for bumping this thread at such a late date…until tonight I had forgotten this thread existed; I really don’t know why I just thought of it again.
Anyhow.
As cool as the curio thing would have been, sis couldn’t talk hubby into buying it and then springing for the rehab.
Then around November of last year a couple responded to one of the ads that were placed and the only thing they were interested in was the age of the piano - they had no interest in a musical instrument; they just wanted to add an antique to their inventory. Since no one had any idea what the serial number was or where to find it they took a pass…which made me happy: The idea of someone buying a musical instrument just because it was old and they could afford it just seemed wrong to me.
Sometime in January, though, another guy responded to the ad. This guy’s hobby was buying up old, beaten-up pianos, rehabbing them, and selling them at a profit. (It was then that we learned the piano was built in 1932.) He took it off our hands for 1500 bucks and, within the next few years, will sell it for probably a heckuvalot more than THAT.
A story of this type appeared in Fine Woodworking Magazine many years ago.
The owner of the piano hired a cabinetmaker to convert the piano into a liquor cabinet. The legs were mounted on the side, and the whole thing was stood up vertically. The lid was converted to two doors, and the stool was made into a wall mounted cabinet for preparing drinks.
I wish I could link to a picture for you, or tell you the number of the issue. The work was really well done, and the piece still retained a very piano-like appearance.
Turbo Dog’s idea has been done, and quite beautifully. If you look real hard you will find the article I am talking about, and the photos may help you make up your mind.
But that WOULD be a lot of fun, eh? 
)