I am considering a Bosendorfer made in the late 1800's, and that was factory rebuilt in the late 1980s. The soundboard is original but all action is new. I would be interested in any comments about this possible purchase, including the reputation of Bosendorfer's rebuilding program and the wisdom of purchasing a piano with a 100+ year-old soundboard.

Thank you.

Rebuilt at the Bosendorfer factory or some "European factory"? Bosendorfer restores so very few pianos whereas there are more outside rebuilders.

I think I've seen only 2 examples of a Bosendorfer factory rebuilt piano and they were quite fine. More common is a factory refurbished instrument (retired C&A) but those would all be modern instruments.

It is likely there are some factory records of its visit, but I wouldn't expect any details of the process.

Having been 25 years since, I would focus on a detailed evaluation of its current condition. If it was done outside of the factory, at that time in the outside rebuilding industry, I would have serious doubts about the conversion to a modern action.

"All new action" means many different things to different people. An Austrian piano of this vintage stands a good chance of having a "Viennese" action. This is a vintage style of mechanism which has limited repetition and many other idiosyncrasies. This mechanism design has long since been abandoned by all makers, for good reason. Don't get caught up by the name on the fallboard alone - make sure a qualified technician goes over this piano closely.

Are you SURE it was rebuilt by Bosendorfer? As Sam pointed out, there were relatively few instruments that they actually do rebuild. However, if you are in the SF Bay Area, there is one, um, gentleman that routinely posts on Craigslist making claims that his Bosies (and other famous European pianos) are rebuilt by Bosendorfer (and the other related factories) when, in fact, that would only be possible if Warsaw somehow became a suburb of Vienna (or Berlin or Leipzig)

HAVE AN INDEPENDENT TECHNICIAN EXAMINE the piano.

Yeah, those glorious looking Polish rebuilds...

Norbert