I've just signed up to the board as I may be about to acquire a piano and would appreciate some advice from those in the know. About 30 years or so ago my late mother bought a piano for me to learn to play on. In my teens (to my eternal regret!) I abandoned the piano playing ...the usual sad tale. These days I have a resurgent interest in playing music having taken up the banjo and guitar.
Anyway, now that my stepfather is finally remarrying, he is suddenly willing to part with the piano. I don't think it has been played (or tuned) for many years. My brother reckons it needs a complete overhaul. Clearly this is a sentimental decision rather than a logical one (I'm sure it would be much more sensible economically to buy new/used!) but if possible I would like to keep the piano and do what work is required to bring it up to a reasonable standard. However, if it is going to be massively expensive to do so, I may not be able to justify this. Could anyone give any (very approximate) feedback on what a thorough overhaul might cost? I see that there is a section here for contacting trade professionals and I will have a look at calling some of these guys up.
My other question is this though: given that the piano is in Manchester (Didsbury area) and I am in West Yorkshire (near Huddersfield), what is the best way of managing this? Do tuners/technicians tend to operate within small local areas only? Do they also arrange piano moving? Should I engage someone in Manchester to come out and assess/advise but would it then be better to move the instrument before getting the work carried out? Or is an extensive overhaul likely to need to happen in a workshop environment? By the way, it's an upright piano with a name (can't quite remember what it is) that's a deliberate twist on the big famous makes - something like Bachstein? I will check. Not sure of its age but it was a second hand piano when my mum bought it in around 1978(?).
Apologies for my ignorance of these matters and for the lengthy post!
Thanks to anyone who can help with some feedback.
Maria
Just trying to understand whether there is any point at all in trying to save the instrument. Plunking away is probably the sum total of my ambition - I had only reached Grade 3 when I packed in at age 13. 
...and I have plenty on my plate already trying to learn banjo and guitar. 
