Which Piano should I keep?

[haybunny]

We recently bought a house that came with an old player piano. We already have an old spinet, so we only need to keep one of them. I'm not familiar with either brand name, so I thought I'd ask for opinions. I will have a tuner take a look at both and tune the one we will keep.

The player is a Behning and was built in 1923. The keys are in good shape. Smells musty inside as it was stored in a garage The body of the piano looks good. I'm sure the interior needs work.

My piano is a Wesser Bros. spinet. It is in bad need of tuning as it has been moved twice in the past year. It has a few chipped ivories, but otherwise fine. It has been better cared for- so it should just need tuning. It never seems to sound as nice as the pianos the piano teacher has, but it has worked fine.

I'm trying to figure out whether it would be worthwhile to refurbish the player piano or just keep the spinet. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Kristen

[Barrie Heaton]

The player should have a better tone and restored well, players can fetch a good price. I would get in your local tuner to inspect both pianos I would also see if there is a tuner who will restore players – the spinet should be the more modern of the two and therefore be in better condition but with out seeing the pianos hard to say

Barrie,

[Steve071261]

Hi,

have you read "The Piano Book" by Larry Fyne? It's very interesting and worth having a copy if you have and use a piano.

He has some pretty forthright views about spinets (doesn't like them). The gist of his opinion is that they are too small to make proper instruments and most full-size pianos (even the smaller ones) will be superior in terms of sound.

Of course, there is no point in discarding a perfectly serviceable spinet in favour of a full-size wreck, so best to be guided by your tuner in your particular circumstances, I'd suggest.

Steve.

hope this helps

[haybunny]

Thank you both for your responses. I will have to agree, the spinet, even when newly tuned, does not produce the sound of an upright (I won't even comment on the comparison to my friends baby grande, LOL- oh, so jealous). Even in the state it is in, the player sounds better than my spinet. I think I'll call the tuner tomorrow and get him out here!

[Gill the Piano]

The more irreverent tuners amongst the fraternity have been known to call baby grands 'ashtrays' (not me, of course ...). If you're going to have a piano have the largest one you can accommodate! Length of string = quality of tone. Which is why we're all coming down on the side of the pianola, not the little upright. With the player there are extra considerations such as bellows and tubing, which being rubber will probably have perished and require replacement. However, many restorers use neoprene rubber now which is long lasting and should last twenty years or so - a player specialist would be the best bod to run to ground!
Good luck!