Polyester cracks: superficial or not?

DoctorAl · Post by **DoctorAl** » 26 Sep 2007, 21:57

I'm contemplating buying a Young Chang G185, roughly 10-15 years old, at a good price. The reason for this price is that the polyester on the sides of the piano (particularly the left, but all the way round) has a few horizontal cracks and the piano is thus cosmetically poor. Inside and underneath the piano the polyester looks fine, the soundboard is in good condition, and the piano keeps its tune well. No buzzings, and no signs of cracks in the frame or anywhere but the outer edge of the piano's polyester.

Are long horizontal cracks like this likely to indicate some serious problem (all cracks are hairline width)? Or is it more likely that shrinking wood or regular moving of the piano have caused this?

The cosmetics don't matter for my intended purpose, but I do want a sound instrument underneath. Should I negotiate hard or run screaming?

thanks,

Al

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 27 Sep 2007, 07:30

Should be fine.

Bear in mind that a polyestering job will cost the best part of 3k and reduce the price accordingly if it's not been reduced by that much already.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 27 Sep 2007, 15:39

a polyestering job will cost the best part of 3k

A tablecloth, on the other hand...

tuna · Post by **tuna** » 27 Sep 2007, 21:30

There's a guy up between Liverpool and Southport who polyesters for less than that. Think it was less than 2k to do a C3 last year.

Was a very good job too.

DoctorAl · Post by **DoctorAl** » 05 Oct 2007, 16:11

Thanks all. In the end I decided not to go for it, as it appeared to have been stored somewhere cold and there was surface rust on the large screws inside the top plus a small amount on the strings - they sounded well enough, but two had clearly been replaced very recently and I didn't fancy a complete restring! I also noticed splits in some of the jacks, and various dampers were oddly misaligned.

It may have turned out OK, but I didn't fancy betting 2k of my own money on it, and my work (a university music technology dept.) had to commit the money elsewhere. Someone thought it was worth 2k though - see completed item 250168136865 on that well-known auction website.

Oh well - hopefully in a year or two we'll have a bit more money to spend on a good used grand piano - I'm thinking £5/6k, 15 year old C3/C5 would probably suit our purposes nicely. Or less money if it needs a new polyester coat!

Al