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I'm going this weekend to look at a 1948 Steinway B. This is what I've been told about it:
new hammers, newlyrepinned/restrung (not sure about exact timing of those updates - will find out), original pin block, original sound board.

I've read about the teflon parts issue and understand 1948 is pre-teflon.

I know I need to get a tech to check it out, but can you suggest any other gotchas to look into for this particular piano?

Depending on condition, what would you guess regarding the FMV price range? Of course they say it's in "mint condition" but we've all heard that before.

I will appreciate any comments or suggestions.
Thanks!

1948 is way before teflon (think 3 decades).

All your questions are really quite impossible to answer without looking at and playing the piano in question. (Probably why no one else has yet answered.)

Your best bet is to rely upon your own ears and fingers; if you like the piano, then it may well be worth the effort to have a technician inspect it.

The teflon adventure started slowly in 1958, picking up speed in 1962.

I had no idea that Steinway teflon started so early. I do recall that when I was getting into piano technology in the late '70s, the teflon "issue" was becoming well-recognized in the trade.

It was in 1977 that Steinway hired David Snediker of the consulting firm Battelle, who was an expert on lubrication and friction, to investigate the cause of complaints from professional pianists about the Steinways they were playing.

I have my dates wrong. Steinway introduced the Perma-free actions(teflon bushings)in 1959. They stopped using them in 1982. The fluorocarbon Teflon was invented in 1938.

Those teflon bushings were some real show stoppers. I rassled a D at New York University during the seventies a couple times. One visit I remember well. I somehow freed up all the stuck hammer flanges in a morning only to get a panic call from the talent who was trying to rehearse in the afternoon. About half of the notes had returned to their unplayable state in just a few hours. I convinced them to roll in a real D which I ran up and tuned just in time for the concert. Told them I didn't want to work with that thing any more. Had a D decal on the plate. Now I always get nervous when I see that.

Teflon bushings weren't the only lousy materials used in those CBS Steinways. I've found a fair number of them that have very soft steel bearing bars under the CDA bar. The strings cut into them and make a very uncertain ending point that changes when you breathe in it's direction.

I'm curious why they would not have replaced the pinblock in a 50-year-old piano. Info on rebuilding is here:
http://ptg.org/resources-pianoOwners-rebuilding.php

--Cy--