Is my 1906 Ferd Manthey piano worth restoring?

[JanWal777]

Hi, live on the Gold Coast, Australia & have a Ferd Manthey piano from my late mother's estate which is in Sydney. I believe it's abt 100 yrs old.

I am thinking of getting it shipped to the GOld Coast & restored however it is not in great condition & I am trying to decide if it is worth doing this for the sentimental value (it belonged to my grandmother & I learned to play it when I was a girl).

I had a semi-retired piano tuner come and look at it. He didn't seem to think it was worth much. The 2nd bottom octave is quite out of tune and he said the strings there were a bit corrosive & May need to be replaced. Also, some of the tuning pegs were a little loose but this perhaps could be rectified with some bigger pegs put in by someone who knew what they were doing.....

I will try to attach some photos & appreciate anyone’s views on this. I have been quoted between $3,500-$4,800 by one restorer based on the info I gave them plus shipping cost as well.

Thankyou :)

[Barrie Heaton]

All depends on how deep your pockets are. The cost of the repair will be more than the piano's worth.

To change the tuning pins you are going to need to change the string ideally, you can just repin but it depends on the quality of the strings.

The action looks very tired and needs of a full reconditioning

in the UK for a full job including the case about 10K that would give you a new like piano depending on the soundboard

Barrie

[JanWal777]

Thankyou very much for taking the time to reply. After reading your reply I spoke to the piano tuner who looked at it for me & he suggested just trying to get it tuned after moving it & perhaps banging in a couple of the tuning pins, but he thought it wasn’t worth restoring.

So I shall probably just do this, as my pockets are not that deep...lol.

Thanks again.

[Barrie Heaton]

Ok your tuner may or may not know this but there is a chemical tuning pin restore. Two methods, one uses
pin tie and the other using CA glue

The piano needs to be put on its back for best results I tend to use pin tite first as the CA fumes are a killer

Barrie

[JanWal777]

Thankyou! I will pass that info on. Very helpful :)