We have in our family a John broadwood upright. I know litttle about its specifics, but is a large upright, made around 1930.
It belonged to my Grandad, who cherished it. When he died It came to our house, where I have played on it ever since.
My question is could someone give me abreakdown of the restoration costs involved please?
Most notably I am concerned with the action. There are a couple of sticking keys in the lower register, but theres is also a broken string (the key still sounds though). the piano still sounds very very nice and is even, however it is not at concert pitch and hasnt been for many years.
What would be cost involved in:
a) Overhalling the action + re felting?
b) Re stringing?
c) re polyestering (or rather changing its apperance to black)?
Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Jim
tbip2001
Broadwood upright restoration? Cost breakdown?
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Broadwood upright restoration? Cost breakdown?
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Re: Broadwood upright restoration? Cost breakdown?
Firstly check the frame.tbip2001 wrote:We have in our family a John broadwood upright. I know litttle about its specifics, but is a large upright, made around 1930.
If it has the name "Collen" printed anywhere on it at all (most likely in a small rectangular transfer mentioning patent numbers) or if the bridges have large brass engineered blocks with the strings passing through them, chuck it away and don't bother. Otherwise, you've probably got a piano that's worth restoring for the instrument's sake and the benefit and pleasure you'll get from it, but certainly not in terms of investment.
About 1.5 to 2K.tbip2001 wrote:What would be cost involved in:
a) Overhalling the action + re felting?
The term "re-felting" means nothing, so beware of any technician who uses it.
About 1.3 to 1.5K including the frame refinishing. Add 800 quid if it needs a new plank.tbip2001 wrote:b) Re stringing?
Why do you want to do this? It's not big and it's not clever, will ruin the originality of the instrument and should be done only if the casework is so bad that repolishing is impossible. (I'm assuming that it's not been polyestered in the past?) It's also a swine to revert to original if somebody wants to change it back.tbip2001 wrote:c) re polyestering (or rather changing its apperance to black)?
Cost? About 1.5 to 2K
A good repolishing job to original mahogany would be about a grand.
All plus VAT if the restorer charges it, so a minimum of 4.5K and a maximum of about 7. Of course you can get it done on the cheap, but you pays yer money.....