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My wife and I were looking at a Sohmer today that is for sale from a private seller. The serial number is 120192#34 which I think is from the late 50's or 1960. Is this correct?
Also, it needs some work. It may need new strings(the last time it was serviced for certain was in 1981, but the strings might be original) the regulation on some of the keys is not correct and the voicing in the higher register is "tinny".

Can anyone tell us how much it may cost to replace the strings? How much should a sohmer of this age be worth in "good" not great condition? The buyer is not asking very much for it, but we would have to have it moved from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, about 50 miles and that would add additional expense.

We thank you for any advice that you may have.
Dan and Emily.

Restringing this piano would cost more than a newer, better piano. Forget about this one.

In the Puget Sound area a basic restring can easily run about $2500.

You have not stated what kind of piano you are looking at? Spinet? Upright? Grand?

Sohmer pianos were generally very nicely built instruments using quality materials. I tune many 100+ year old instruments with original strings that still function well. On older pianos the strings are not usually the main problem, except that sometimes bass strings can go dull. Sometimes they can be revived without replacing, sometimes not.

It dates to 1956. It's especially important to have a technician evaluate a used piano when it hasn't been tuned in the last year or two. Often there are serious problems that even the owner is not aware of.

Keep in mind that you can buy a brand-new upright with a ten-year warranty for roughly $3,000 these days -- and often can even finance it.

--Cy--

The #34 indicates a 34 inch console. It is nothing special. Just about anything you could buy new for the price of restringing would be much better.

It is a console piano. I am not sure that that will need new strings. I think that tuning will solve some of the perceived tone issues. One issue it has is that the keys are not even when you run your fingers over them. I don't know if that can be rectified? If so is a difficult procedure?

They are only asking 500 dollars for it, it has only had one owner. It has not been played in many years and has spent most of the last 30 years as furniture but has always been in a house, never in storage.

It will cost us 400 dollars to get it to our house, plus the cost of service. so we are looking at at least 1000 dollars.
Assuming that it is in good shape, that it needs only a minimal amount of work would that be a fair price for the brand and year?

If it hasn't been tuned for such a long time, I wouldn't touch it. IMHO

You can do much better.

Are you sure about that? Sohmer's designations for their grands went something like Model 59 = 5’ 9” and I thought the Model 34 vertical was similar—as in 3’ 4”, or a 40” console. But I could be mis-remembering.

In any case, Sohmer’s generally were rather poorly designed—but fairly well made—pianos of average performance.

ddf

It could be 40 inches, but I am pretty sure the studio was #45.

Did anyone ever build a 34" spinet?

ddf

We measures it at 40". It only has 84 keys by my wife's count.
we are also looking at a Knave, it has been checked over by a tech and is said to need about $350 worth of work. Is this a better brand in general? not taking into account any condition issues.