We have an art case rosewood Shoninger piano in excellent condition. The serial number is 31566. We have had the piano for 30 years and are trying to decide whether to sell it or replace it. It is such an beautiful old piano I am leaning toward having it tuned etc.Your opinions would be appreciated.

Sounds like you need a piano tech to evaluate and possibly repair your Shoninger. If it is actually in good condition and just needs tuning and maybe some minor repair you can make your keep/replace decision after getting it in shape. If the piano will cost more to repair than it is worth, your question answers itself.

Well.... tuning could be a beginning!

And as you seem to love [your wife]...ahem...mean

...PIANO..

....why look for.....

..ANOTHER?? :rolleyes:

NORBERT

Have it checked out by a technician from top to bottom. This serial number dates it to 1956 so it is close to 50 years old. I am a technician and worked on 2 Shoningers a few months back. The first had a nice case and had a good sound. I fixed a broken hammer at the owners request but the pin block was pretty bad. I did a tuning for free because I could not gurantee it would hold for long. Piano number 2 had a major problem in the bass- the bass bridge apron was collapsed and some of the bridge pins where actually touching each other. The piano did not sound too bad with the damper pedal up but when it was pressed down and you played the bass it was terrible. I'm not saying all of these pianos will have a problem but it is best to get it checked out given its age.

A pinblock question:

If the pins are a bit loose, I know a tech can dope the block, and get the pins to hold, at least for a few years.

But if the block itself is going south, is there anything that can be done, outside of replacement?

There seem to be two series of numbers for Shoninger. If this piano is really rosewood and art case, then it is likely to be about 100 years old.

I agree that a tech is needed to evaluate the piano. After all, we don't even know if it is a grand or a vertical piano.

Thanks for your information. The piano is 100 years old and is also an upright. What I really want to know is how was the Shoninger rated in its day. Was it a excellent brand or just a middle of the road. I can't find much about the quality.

I'm not really sure how it was when new, however most uprights of that era were well made.

That however, is not the issue. It is like asking how well made a 35 year old Oldsmobile is. Its original condition is immaterial to its condition today.

I have seen lierally hundreds of 100 year old uprights. Less that 5% had any value or were worth any investment.

To Jolly-

Doping is essentially treating the pinblock. You are buying some time if it works however the long term fix is replacement which is costly. Webb Phillips has a wood restore product that is used in the tuning pin holes but you have to take the pins out unlike with doping. I inspected a Chickering the other day which had big time pin block problems. There where at least a dozen hairline cracks from back to front on this grand right through the middles of the tuning pin holes. It appears someone pounded in the tuning pins without adequate support of the pinblock.

Thanks JIMBOB.

So when a pinblock deelops these type of cracks, replacement must be the only option.