Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Is This Piano Worth Re-habing?

Two years ago, I acquired my mother's old Sommers and Son acoustic spinet piano. I don't have a model number and nor do I know it's actual age. I do know that it's not considered a top quality piano. However, since my mother died 20 years ago, I'd estimate it to be at least 35 years old - maybe more.

The piano has not really been used since she died in 1994. It was in my brother's house most of the time since then, but I took it when he downsized since I used to play as a child and was interested in getting back into playing since I'm now retired. However,I REALLY was reluctant to annoy the neighbors with my meager efforts at re-learning how to play (ie - OK, The truth is that I didn't want to embarrass myself), even though I paid for a tuning at that time ($135).

So, I bought a digital piano and have been using it with headphones for the most part. But now I feel that I'm a decent enough player to use the acoustic on occasion, but I wonder whether the piano is worth the cost/effort to re-hab it. It definitely needs to be tuned again - but it also definitely needs work to clean up the action. Specifically, when I strike the same key twice in a row, the second strike often does not sound. This happens with a lot of keys.

When I had the piano tuned 2 years ago, the technician tuned only to relative pitch. I would ideally like it tuned to perfect pitch in order to play along with some recordings I have. (Of course I can do this with my digital piano, but it's action is a bit noisy and clunky.) The tuner that this probably could be done but would require multiple tuning sessions and would cost more, of course. And he thought that the action of the keys can also be rehabilitated - however, I have no idea what that would cost.

So, would this piano be worth the expense and effort bring it "back to life" and get it tuned and re-habed to it's full remaining potential? Or should I be happy with just using my Digital Piano (Yamaha DGX640) and upgrading it to another model at some point instead?

Sorry for the long post, but thanks for your thoughts on this!

What is meant by relative pitch?

Spinets are notoriously unresponsive in their action, due to how they are set up (pulling up with a lever). Your description of the second strike not sounding is a dead giveaway of this phenomenon. Unless it has serious sentimental value, donate it and spend your money on a nicer digital with real weighted action. Yamaha's DGX pianos have spring-loaded keys and will not help you in your journey to become a better pianist. I highly recommend anything in Casio's Privia line if you are on a budget or any Yamaha digital that starts with "P"

Best of luck!

Do you mean Sohmer & Co.? Sohmer made a 34" console and a 45" studio. They were well-made pianos, although only average quality design.

Your best bet may be to talk to the tech who worked on it before to get some idea of whether it is worth it.

If the majority of notes have drifted out of tune fairly consistently, it's possible to clean up unisons and the odd sour note, and have it sound pretty good but not be at A4 = 440 (i.e relative tune). Otherwise, if A4 is not near 440 (or wherever you want it to be), then you need to do a "pitch raise" to bring all the notes into tune relative to that, and because of all the tension involved it usually requires a second (finer) tuning.

Actually, you asked about "relative pitch," but I'm assuming that's what the OP meant.

I'm not sure what you mean by "re-hab," but if it only needs tuning and some regulation, it shouldn't be too expensive, especially compared to the price of your digital or another acoustic piano. Any acoustic piano will require tunings and occasional maintenance such as regulation.

As BDB suggested, talk to your tech to see how much work it needs and the cost associated. It sounds like the piano has sentimental value to you, so don't give up on it too soon!

First thing to do is determine whether it's a Spinet or a Console. Open it up and look at what happens at the far end of the keysticks when you play them. If the far end of the key pulls up on a wire thingy with a plastic elbow at the bottom, it's a Spinet. If it pushes up on the rest of the mechanical parts of the action, it's a Console.

Spinets at this time are all worth approximately zero. If it's a spinet, any money you put into it should be 100% for its sentimental value.

If it's a Console, it's probably worth your while to get a technician you trust to inspect it and give you a price for what it needs. Typically the charge for that will be $100 - 150.

That's exactly what I meant! Thanks for jumping in and explaining it better than I could have.

Nope. It says "Summers and Son" on the keyboard cover.

OK - my turn for a question --- What is meant by "regulation"?

The piano does have sentimental value to me, of course. But it would be great to get into usable condition.

Thanks.

Regulation is the process by which the action (the mechanical parts that make up the key mechanisms and hammers) are adjusted to fit your tastes and account for wear and tear on the piano. It can make a lot of difference in how a piano sounds and feels.

Aha! I learn something new every day. I opened it up and took a look. From your description, it appears to indeed be a spinet. Although I don't see a plastic elbow at the bottom, pressing any key results in it pulling up a "wire thingy". I don't see anything being PUSHED up.

Funny, I almost referred to it as an upright in my original post, but it's much too short for that.

Are you saying that, since it's a spinet, it's not really salvageable? Or more expensive to rehabilitate than a console would be? In any case, I have no intention of selling it.

Thanks.

Aha! Thank you!

Yeah, I played around on a Privia at a store and REALLY liked the feel compared to my DGX640.

Summers & Son does not show up in the Piano Atlas, which probably means it was an inexpensive spinet made for and sold by a local company, what is known as a stencil piano, because the name was just stenciled on it. That makes it less likely to be worth anything, sadly.

It can be salvaged. It will be more expensive to salvage. The cash value of the restored spinet on the market will still be very close to zero no matter how much money you put into it.

So, go ahead on the basis that you're doing it 100% for the sentimental value.

Edit: One good thing, you don't have those plastic elbows. They break and all have to be replaced, which is expensive.

What I was trying to say earlier is that spinets and even console pianos don't have the kind of dynamic action that allows a musician a lot of nuance and variation in playing, like a grand does. Modern digital pianos are meant to emulate concert grand pianos in their touch and feel, not spinets and consoles. Do you have a specific budget range for a digital piano and/or servicing the spinet? I wouldn't suggest selling the spinet, per se, but I would definitely think hard about the cost-benefit ratio of having it serviced to where it would be playable. If it has strong sentimental value, that worth is less about dollar figures and more about how you feel personally.

More than likely. My parents were not very well off financially, so this makes sense.

Thanks for researching this.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with putting some money into spinet and it is not worthless (although it's probably only worth a few hundred at most). You need to have a tech look at and see what kind of fixes can be done, what they will accomplish, and what they will cost. Even if the cost $500 that is much less than what a good digital costs. Putting the sentimental value aside for a moment, the relevant question is after putting x dollars into it how will it sound/play and how does that compare with what you could buy in another piano for x dollars.

Plenty of decent and even very good pianists started out playing spinets. Baldwin Acrosonic spinets were extremely popular at one time.

I'd forget this notion of "re-habbing" it. It only needs maintenance. If it's not hard on the eyes, and only needs a pitch raise and regulation, then you're only talking about a few hundred dollars (+/-).

The usual equation here on PW is "is it 'worth' what I'll have to pay to buy it, ship it to my home and get it reasonably ready to play?" This one is already in your home, and, from what you've said, it only needs a pitch raise and some regulation. You say you have no intention of getting rid of it, so why not get your tech to evaluate the action? In fact, if your only reason to raise the pitch is to play along with recordings, you might skip it because many recordings are not A440 anyway!

Many people love their spinets! And this one is obviously special to you. People are always reluctant to throw numbers out here, but you say you paid $135 for a tuning. A pitch raise usually adds about a hundred bucks. That's $235 (give or take). If the keys are working but need adjustment (like you described), maybe a couple hundred more for regulation (rates vary by location).

Don't lose heart because some strangers who've never laid eyes on it, and don't have the same attachment to it that you do, don't think it's "worth it." Ask your tech! My hunch is that for less than $500 it could be humming like new again!