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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 411
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Looking at Craigslist, most old uprights languish for free and most spinets are free. I suspect in the not so distant future, people will pay to have a piano hauled away. This may become a good business for a young enterprising piano person. I do wonder what they charge at the landfill per ton.?
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Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 625
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Joined: Jun 2011
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It already is. It usualy just amounts to a pianomove to the dump. Most customers are home owners or real estate agents that must have a house empty pending a sale. Most lanfills just charge by weight, though I think they would not accept them at all if they knew how much lead was in one. They want no electronics because of the little drops on the pc board. I think that they would blanch at the 10 lbs in the average grand. They just closed the local landfill, come to think of it. My business model may be in trouble, or they may be forced to pay more if we must render them.
Craig Hair
Hampshire Piano
Chesterfield, MA
Conservative Piano Restoration
Watch us on YouTube
I've learned better than to shout,"Eureka!"
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 5,218
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"...I suspect in the not so distant future, people will pay to have a piano hauled away..."
We are already there, Dan--- you have foreseen the present, not the future. Who am I to look that gift horse of a free piano in the mouth... but if it were a real horse, people would be taking a look. They'd sound like the dentist: "Smile; open please." And then, just like the dentist, the bill would come for the haul-away.
Then again, maybe there will be that young musician who will use up those last few moments of the old piano's musical life, and a new person will have fallen in love with the piano... and the industry's heart will keep beating for another lifetime.
Clef
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,562
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If I had a warehouse, all of those free uprights would have a home.
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 215
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Posts: 215 |
Last year I largely emptied my warehouse so I could move into smaller digs. I threw away dozens. They are free because 1) New and shiny sells easier and 2) who is going to pay to make these thingees pianos again?
A decade ago, plenty of demand and sometimes a bit scares on the supply side, now quite the opposite. Don't get in the way of a falling piano market, it will hurt.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,475
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Here is my hope--more of this: http://www.pianosforpeople.com/ --Andy
I may not be fast,
but at least I'm slow.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,028
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Piano disposal would never be a part of the business I would ever be interested in.
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,562
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On a very small, individual scale, that is part of what I do. Sometimes, pianos come to me, and if they're functional, I try to find someone I can give them to. I picked up a couple of grands a church was gong to throw away. One went to Kenny to practice working on while he went to school to become a piano tech. The other, a friend and I refinished (it had been rebuilt in the not-too-distant past), and we gave it to some friends who had lost their Steinway M - along with their entire home and belongings - in the 2007 SoCal Witch Creek fire. it was a housewarming present for their new home. I picked up another baby grand a mother church was throwing away. I spent one day working on it, then donated it to my daughter's school. Yet another baby grand that was headed for the landfill. This time, a new set of hammers, a good cleaning, and it will go to the friend of a friend.
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 376
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anrpiano, same as you, I got rid of EVERYTHING! I used to always have 8 or 10 pianos in my tiny 1,000 ft. apartment, to sell. These would be perfectly regulated and tuned to A-440. Still, all they bring is $300 or $400 on a good day. I stick to doing what I do best(tuning and repairing pianos), and I don't regret it!
Making the world a better sounding place, one piano at a time...
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,475
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4000 Post Club Member
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On a very small, individual scale, that is part of what I do. Sometimes, pianos come to me, and if they're functional, I try to find someone I can give them to. I picked up a couple of grands a church was gong to throw away. One went to Kenny to practice working on while he went to school to become a piano tech. The other, a friend and I refinished (it had been rebuilt in the not-too-distant past), and we gave it to some friends who had lost their Steinway M - along with their entire home and belongings - in the 2007 SoCal Witch Creek fire. it was a housewarming present for their new home. I picked up another baby grand a mother church was throwing away. I spent one day working on it, then donated it to my daughter's school. Yet another baby grand that was headed for the landfill. This time, a new set of hammers, a good cleaning, and it will go to the friend of a friend. OperaTenor, Besides Bill Bremmer, (and BDB for his recent Betsy Ross spinet elbow renovation project report (in the Piano Forum)), you are my hero!  (Even if you do regard ET in too high esteem...)  (imho) 
Last edited by Cinnamonbear; 12/05/13 02:12 AM.
I may not be fast,
but at least I'm slow.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,475
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P.S.
Much to my wife's dismay, I have a warehouse (of a sort) at my disposal. Now, if I can just get a mini truck to that Story & Clark spinet I saw the other day in Freeport...
--Andy
I may not be fast,
but at least I'm slow.
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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The Betsy Ross was one, the old family upright that I renovated for a friend was another. That one came out much better than the Kawai console it replaced, for less than a modern used upright would cost.
Semipro Tech
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 215
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Gary,
Back in "the day" we moved close to 100 used pianos through a year. I developed a rental program which proved very successful. After a while though, I realized I was like Wily Coyote, my business had continued to prosper as the overall market collapsed. Eventually, as with Wily, ... well, we all know what has happened. With the baby boomers moving out of their McMansions, and the kids not wanting the piano, the used market is flooded with pianos. In Chicago, Craigslist routinely has 400 - 500 pianos listed, many free or essentially free. Who cares if they haven't been tuned in 30 years!
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