A $75.00 Saloon Piano

[Uncle Al]

This person bought the 100 year old piano for $75.00
The clip starts a bit slow but ends with a little "Boogie-Woogie"
100 year old Saloon Piano

Have fun

Uncle Al

[Kirbstone]

He certainly has!. Being 'of a certain age' he obviously has been playing blues & boogies all his life.

A very entertaining clip.

As a precocious piano-player schoolboy I stocked up on boogies & Winifred Atwell style rags at that time, but alas, with the exception of her 'Black & White Rag' they've all fallen into the mists of Time & disuse.

My taste in pianos doesn't extend to instruments like that, nowadays.....It'd be difficult to do justice to Geo Gerschwin, Claude Debussy or Franz Liszt on such an instrument.

Actually, just now I'm sparring with Leroy Anderson in prep. for Christmas....I've just landed a really juicy piano arrangement of his 'Sleigh Ride', which is quite challenging. There are so many quick-fire key changes &c. in there and he doesn't allow many fingers stay idle for long.

T.

[Zorba]

An old "mirror piano" - hope he has the rest of the cabinet.

Its actually quite easy to tune one to sound that way.

I've seen, played, and heard worse!

[Charlie]

I thoroughly enjoyed the music and only wish I could knock out a tune like that
Charlie

[PatJ]

I am a bit curious and maybe someone here knows the answer to what makes the sound.

The piano strings sound like they are dead in the bass range, and many other strings sound off tone (not necessarily pitch). So, do pianos have to have strings changed like a guitar or other stringed instrument?

Part of the piano was clearly missing - how much does that affect the sound of the instrument? One would think that if it were closed in with the rest of the cabinet, it would deepen the tone of the piano and make it sound less "tinny".

But yes, that guy can rip out a tune on that old piano.

[Big and Bashful]

Wow, a true Honky tonk piano sound, I like!

[JRMILLER]

I used to buy and work on old piano's like that -- the bass strings are very tubby sounding and it's generally because they are packed with debris, dust and so forth. The first thing you try to correct it (if you want to correct it -- sounds like this guys likes it the way it is) is to remove them, take a string, coil it and bang it out on a concrete floor. Then, reinstall and give it a couple of twists as you hook it up again. These sound so bad, however, that I doubt they could be revived, probably looking at new ones.

The other big problem with old pianos has to do with the hammers, the felt gets stiff and/or wears off. This makes a harsh sound which you can hear in the treble on this video... They would need to be replaced, but some people have had some success pricking them in an effort to loosen up the felt.

Overall, however, this guys loves it the way it is... so, no need to do much more than clean it up and play it... A piano tuner would likely screw it up in an attempt to even it out and raise the pitch.

[the_scott_meister]

He's obviously having fun with it, and seems to love the sound. Those old pianos are unique sounding aren't they? You can make it sound rinky-tink by detuning it just slightly and selectively, and hardening the hammers, but it looks like nature has already done that here. The bass strings are dead and would be hard to bring back so they'd probably need to be replaced. But that would ruin the charm, wouldn't it. The copper coils have probably come loose in some areas and they're probably packed with dust too. But you can revitalize them sometimes by doing what RJ mentioned, among a few other things. And I did hear a "thunk" during some of the pedaling so it's got some trap-work issues too.

I had an old piano with a similar case. A nice tiger-oak veneer. It's hard to tell from the video but it might polish up nicely. I hope that the rest of the case is there. But not bad for 75 bucks.

[Sinned]

Why bother tinkering with something that produces a unique but still pleasing sound to replace it with something that you wouldn't be able to pick out from a million other pianos? It was never meant to be and It'll never be a Steinway so why ruin it? I don't play the piano to my regret but it seems to be a real bargain for something that's in a class of one.

[Sarongman]

Just my take on this but, if anyone is looking for an old piano, steer clear of the overdamper action. These older design actions are a right pain to regulate and don't damp properly especially in the treble. The modern underdamper has been around now for over 100 years in the quality brands and are far superior.