Greetings to the forum.

I found this forum while searching information about an Everett piano I am buying today and thought I would register to find out some more information. Seems to be a lot of knowledgeable individuals here and a friendly place to hang out.

My 7 year old took and interest in drums last year; my wife and I thought we should get her a piano to help build her musical knowledge (a piano is a percussion instrument, huh?) and she is has taken to it quite well. One of our friends said they would give us their old piano for her to start with until we could determine if our youngest would actively play. The piano they gave us was a Gulbransen Pinafore that was in fair condition. It's exactly like this one:



Should we keep this piano and re-gift it to someone that is starting out or should we keep it for whatever reason (rarity, value....?)

Second question, we are buying an 1976-77 Everett (based on the serial number not sure of model) for $250 from an individual down the street from us. Doing some research, Everett's seem to be good pianos and this one is in great condition, although we'll have to have it tuned once it has acclimated in our home. Since they are only a 1/2 mile away and it's only $250, we figured this a good upgrade from our freebie Gulbransen. Is this a fairly decent purchase and is this a piano for my daughter to keep for a few years or lifetime?

Thanks for any replies, and have a great 4th of July weekend.

--Chris

Welcome to the forum, saunterer! Everetts are nice pianos, and assuming the tech says it can stay in pitch, I'd say you've done very well for $250.

Would it last a lifetime? Probably not (most pianos start to need major maintenance around the 40 year mark that may not be cost-effective to do with this piano), but it should last long enough for you to discover if your daughter sticks with piano. You can always upgrade in a few years if so.

As always, Monica gives kind advise. Everetts are decent solid pianos, however at age 32 it will likely not be much of an upgrade from the spinet you have now. If the Everett is 36" tall spinet it will be no upgrade at all. Be sure to budget the $100 to move it and the $150 to likely pitch-raise it and tune it.
Best of luck.

Everetts are good "work horse" pianos. Just go look and see what is in the practice rooms in the music schools. I am amazed how well the old ones hold up next to newer pianos.

Hey, for $250 how bad can it be? I'll bet there are a bunch of female members who spend that much on a haircut.

As to your present piano, I would try to donate it to another beginner. That's what I did with my previous instrument, a 1965 Acrosonic. It will certainly never be a "valuable antique."

and.. you don't HAVE to bring it up to pitch.. unless you'll be playing with other instruments.

Apple,

Please! Ear training begins with the first lesson. Having students play pianos not at pitch is poor advice.

Out here the bench may be worth $250.00

Everett for $250.00 what a deal!

The Gulbransen was a nice little piano too. Is that a square grand on the right of the gulbransen?

My wife was looking at Coach purses for more than this, she actually bought one.

Yeah, my wife has a couple of those Coach purses and a Dooney and Burk or something like that. They are WAY more than $250. Now tell me, how can a purse possibly be worth more than a piano? I really want to know.

I think the bottom line here is that IF this piano is an upright and not a spinet or console, it may be an upgrade from the one you have now. If it is not an upright you should stay with what you have today that is working fine.

And yes, I you do get the Everett, it would be a fine thing for you to give the Gulbransen to another new student. But only after the Everett has stabilized and you are sure it will work out.

Thanks for all the replies.

I went and picked up the Everett about 30 minutes after posting my first post. Only cost me $20 to have it placed in the house. (3 teenagers, one truck, 1/2 mile drive and 10 minutes worth of grunting...)

The sound is more rich and fuller than the old Gulbransen and my daughter is loving it. Based on the research we did; from what we gather this same piano on CL is listing anywhere from $800 to $1800, so I think we got a good deal. Plus some other reading we did, folks said that the hybrid Yamaha/Everett pianos were great. Heck, if this piano only lasts us a year it is still cheaper than renting one for a year. (And I'm familiar with Coach purses, wife and daughter own their fair share of them).

I snagged that picture from http://www.vintagepianoshop.com/detail.cfm?id=227 since that is the only place on the internet that I have found our Gulbransen. Wish I could sell mine for $2500

We are going to schedule some time with the tuner and hopefully in the next two weeks or so he can give us his opinion on it.

Oh, let me throw in a pic:

You got yourself a very nice console, and at a very nice price. Glad your daughter likes it!

how about a little sexism here! What about the snowblowers and big screen TVs bought by husbands?

You got a great deal on a decent piano.

yes, of course!

(i grew up broke..proper pitch was a luxury for us apparently. )

:D

Now, wait just a gosh-darn minute. We don't need snow blowers hereabouts, and my wife is the one who watches TV. I'd be just as happy without one big screen or otherwise.

Congrats on such a good deal. I would definitely "second the motion" that you spend some more have a tech go through it. It should really sound great then.

Congratulations on your new piano. Looks like you got a deal. Interesting that you pulled the trigger 20 minutes after original posting. Kind of makes us wonder what was the point.

We had contacted the sellers the previous night and looked at the piano that evening. We went ahead and committed to purchasing it before I posted. I posted the morning that we were to pick it up, just to hopefully confirm the research we did.

We called the tuner yesterday and he basically said "an Everett for $250? Good deal..." so it makes us feel better.