I heard about this on CBC Radio this morning.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/12/20/steinway-piano-restoration.html

I was fortunate enough to save a local group from dumping that sort of money into a B that had been in a high school here in Oakland. They ended up paying about a third of the original estimate.

Regardless of our different philosophies of piano restoration, I can say with authority that everything costs more in Canada. Some things cost a lot more. Cars, for example, as well as alcohol, gasoline, airfare, etc. Pianos, and piano restoration, are by no means an exception.

I'm not sure of the exchange rates these days, but it seems like a reasonable amount to put into the instrument.

It wouldn't surprise me if André Bolduc will be doing the restoration, in which case they can expect world class results.

I've seen and heard a few rebuilds that cost a third of what I charge.
They were worth that, well maybe.

A restored vintage "D" is every bit as great as the alternative and $90,000 less.

Christian will do a great job

Is the piano a Hamburg-D? I noticed that the S&S logo lyre, on the fallboard, is located under the Steinway name. I have never seen that type of logo on a NYC-D from that time period.

I think that this project is excellent and I wish them well in their fundraising efforts.

The case styling does not suggest NY manufacture.

I have seen a number of fund-raisers for things like this that start out with good intentions and end with nothing happening. If these people only did the work that needed to be done, they save thousands of dollars and get this piano up and making money much sooner. As it is, I suspect that this will just languish before people just give up.

The piano looks and sounds a lot better than many other pianos that are used regularly for concerts as it is.

I guess you're talking about the cost for restoring a D already owned by the person wanting the restoration and in this particular case it seems like the figure would be around 80K less than a new D(costing around 132K)? I wouldn't expect a completely restored D bought from a restorer to cost 90K less than a new one at about 132K. That would mean the D would sell for 42K.

Yes I was comparing the cost of the rebuild against the purchase of a new instrument. Not factoring the value of the unrebuilt
instrument.
In our region a new "D" sells for more than 132K so I was also thinking with a different number in my mind.
I have a 1920's "D" here that needs to be rebuilt. New Board, block and bridges. Refinished, new keys and all new action parts.
That will be $74,000 all done. So it will be around $71,000 less than a new one in my region.

And the $50,000 they need may include the taxes on the restoration.

Ahem - The approximate cost for a new Hamburg-D is $154,600 USD according to "Piano Buyer." That considerably changes the concept of comparing it to a new NY-D ~$132K for restoration.

Having the quote from André Bolduc doesn't seem out of line at all for a rebuilding at that high level. To have, for all practical purposes, a "new" S&S-D for $50K is quite marvelous.

Rod - Who is Christian?

This may be an underestimate. When I was last in the UK (May, 2011), the Hamburg D was selling for 114,000GBP ~ 184,000USD.

Including a new key set? That sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

Christian is Andre Bolduc's son.

Yes with a new key set. It's the only way to make the action perfect.

Edit: I was mistaken re the price. I wrote before I confirmed the price of the Steinway before the rebuild.
It will be $74,000 all done.

No arguments there! It's a nice touch in a rebuilding world that isn't always as detail oriented as it should be.

There are a lot of things which are nice touches until you have to pay for them.

There is a 1928 Steinway D that I service, giving it what it needs when it needs it and when the owners can afford it. For the number of times that it is used, it does not justify putting $50,000 into it. It is adequate for any artist who comes along. If they want more, they could pay for it, but that will not happen. It is still as good or better than most of the pianos they will run across, and it makes the space available for use for events that require a decent piano.

There was a time when a pair of pianists wanted their own tuner for the two pianos there (the other is a Bechstein E, in approximately the same condition), and I got a call from the presenter asking whether I minded. I said no. Then I got another call asking whether it would be proper to request that the pianists pay the difference. I said that sounded reasonable. I ended up tuning the pianos.

The Steinway is getting to the point where the hammers could stand replacing again, but I have told them that more urgent needs are better lighting (pending, since that is cheap) and extensive work on their other Bechstein.

It seems to me that as the piano technician for what must be a serious concert venue, given that it has a Steinway D AND a Bechstein, your job should be to advocate for what the piano needs to keep it up to concert-level. You shouldn't be advocating for work on the lighting system, the lighting director should do that. The job of management is to balance these competing needs and make the choice between lighting and pianos, based on the information presented by the representative experts advocating for those systems.

This is not a serious concert venue. It is a historical venue that has concerts, and there are no professionals in theater management or operation there. I am the only liaison they have with that part of their operation. The lighting will make it more attractive for even more concerts and other events. The lighting costs almost nothing, I am the one who knows about it, and there was the commitment of the money from the group that puts on the concerts. $500 for lights will be a bigger improvement than $3000 for new hammers for the piano, and it will make it more likely that the hammers will happen, because more people will want to use the venue.

The serious concert venue where I am working is getting a new D and a CFX, as per my recommendation. The benefits of that decision turned out to be much better than even I had thought, as they were able to swing some pretty substantial deals.

There is nothing wrong with using your own experience to help your customers when they need it. If you have information that they can use, sharing it will make you look better to them. Even if you advise them not to spend so much money on your services, that may pay off better in the long run.

True.

Does anyone know how successful the "pianothon" was yesterday? I hope they did well with their efforts.

I have looked for an update, but haven't found anything yet, I'll keep looking and will post the results of the fund raiser when I find out.