Advice on how much to pay for a 30year old Zender

tansyg · Post by **tansyg** » 04 Jun 2008, 17:29

Hi there,
I've heard of a 30 year old Zender piano for sale. The woman says it's worth about £400 -£450 (she nipped into a music shop and asked but no one has actually valued the piano). She's never had it tuned and I'm seeing it on Saturday. She's said she will take £375 for it but obviously I will have to add on moving it and tuning it when it's here taking the cost up quite a bit.
I've no idea of it's true worth so don't know if I'm being asked for too much or, indeed , for too little. I've seen a Zender on ebay today for £50 so am rather confused.
Can anyone please advise me on how much I should be offering as I don't want to be ripped off and don't know enough technically about pianos although she says it's in a good condition. I need a small piano and have played a Zender before and liked the tone.
I would be grateful for input from someone in the know!
Thank you in advance (have only just found this forum!)
Regards
Tansy

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 04 Jun 2008, 17:46

With out seeing the piano hard to say but in shops they go for 700 to 1500 depending on condition and what part of the UK you are in

Get a tuner to look at it before you buy

Barrie,

DoctorAl · Post by **DoctorAl** » 12 Jun 2008, 13:23

Zenders? I think all the ones I've played have had an oddly low keyboard - one had to be seriously chocked up. They were rather thin in tone. I'm also worried by the comment that it has never been tuned - if this means for all its life, this may mean it can never be decently tuned.

Like Barry says, get an expert to check it out. There are plenty of similar aged pianos out there that are in excellent condition, so if in doubt don't worry about finding something else.

Reminds me of an apartment I stayed in in Prague. Similar age piano, never been tuned. Each note was a tri-chord. We used it as a dinner gong, burglar alarm, torture device...

Al