Hey Jim...Is my "free" piano really free?

Free pianos are like free dogs...they can cost quite a bit. You can find numerous free pianos on Facebook Marketplace. Some of them are worth free, but not many. You will need to pay a few hundred to have it moved. A couple hundred to clean it up, fix any minor issues and tune it. Possible to get a great piano for about $500 ready to play. Whenever a customer tells me they have a free piano...I cringe a little. Gives me very low expectations. On occasion I'm surprised and delighted!

About a year and a half ago a new client called me up looking for a quote to tune her free piano. When I arrived, piano was not looking great. Leg was broken off, an odd blue color. Someone had painted it with a brush, was dusty...looked like an old bar piano that had been played hard. Opened it up, cleaned it up, tuned it and it sounded great! 1937 Estey piano, 87 years old. It is not the best looking piano I've ever tuned but turned out great and client was very pleased. Just tuned it again yesterday. Customer had repaired the leg. It was a little flat, but not bad. That piano was a great "free" piano!

I have also had to tell clients on occasion that their "free" piano cannot be tuned, or it has a cracked soundboard, or it is just worn out and needs a major rehab job. Rehabbing an old piano is possible if it is a family heirloom but can cost $10K or more. Usually not worth pursuing. If grandma was still playing, she would have bought a new piano a long time ago. 80-year-old pianos are like 80-year-old people, they just wear out.

We do provide an assessment service where we will go look at a piano you are interested in and let you know if it has any issues prior to buying or spending the money to move it.

Contact us for all your piano tuning and repair questions in the St. Louis and Columbia, Missouri areas.