I saw this in CL tonight. I am in So Cal, but if this is a great deal it would be really tempting, and the reviews of the piano store were favorable. I'm not very savvy regarding these things though. Any opinions?


http://www.piedmontpiano.com/Webpages/Galleries/SFCMSale.html

Piedmont Piano is an excellent, reputable dealer

It looks to me like they're selling pianos that would normally get a full or significant rebuilding. Based on the prices, the pianos in the pictures certainly are not pianos that were recently rebuilt. So unless you want to buy a core piano and pay to have it rebuilt(for 20-50K and not much guarantee how it will sound ahead of time), these pianos don't seem like such a good idea.

Of course, it's possible that some are in better than just core condition, and that far less work would be needed to make them nice or even excellent. Or it's possible that some have had some rebuilding work done on them in the past and are in better condition than a 100 year old conservatory might normally be in. I'd call them and ask about the condition of the pianos.

The ad is very clear. These are pianos "that have been heavily used" in a conservatory. I don't think these prices are a steal. I think that schools generally replace pianos when they are not musically useful to them anymore.

Some schools would rebuild a number of those instruments. I assume the school simply replaced them.

Have a qualified technician examine any piano you are considering, particularly one of these pianos.

Good luck,

Oh how I want that fishtail Bechstein!!!

Yeah, me too.

If you click on the "used pianos" on the side it gives more information about some of these listed on the page, and other ones they have in stock. It comes from the estate of a pianist who had had, in more recent years, new strings and new action put in. Hmmmmm.....

Thanks everyone for your answers!