John wrote: I'd appreciate
1. any comments on whether this is worth doing (hard without seeing the instrument, I know).
Yes if the soundboard is in good condition and to date I have not seen one that has had a bad soundboard and I don't mean a few splits as all soundboards have them at that age in the North of England the replacement value for a new piano is 9,000 +
I don't know of any in your area the nearest would be Morris Peak in Preston then me in Darwen S$S in Bolton there is a good tuner in Lancaster but IJohn wrote: 2. Also, contact details for people who do this who are not too far from this remote corner of england!
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don't know if he reconditions
All depends on the polisher they use, Morris uses a guy in Preston he manly sprays them then pules over with a rubber the Guy I use is cabinet makerJohn wrote: 3. a specific question - it is french polished - new pianos seem to come with a high sheen laquer coat. Is it likely that a restorer would be able to restore the original finish rather than coating it in plastic?!
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polisher who have been polishers for 4 generations and tend to prefer the old way but that is more expensive but they do spray as well
John wrote: 4. very roughly what sort of sum could this require?
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All depends on the condition of the case that could set you back up to 600.00 as to the insides that depends on what can be kept and re conditioned and
what has to be replaced with polishing you could be looking at 3K tops 5K if you go to S&S then you have removal costs but with out seeing the piano it is hard
Barrie,