Anyone Need a Piano?

Several years ago, a friend of mine was moving and tells me "hey, I've got this piano, it's yours if you want it".  Our second child was just born and Mrs. VCH and I thought it might be a fun toy for them, and maybe instill interest in music lessons. 

FF to now, neither kid shows even the slightest interest in said piano, and our kitchen, already too small, is cluttered with one full size upright piano. 

Pianos, I have learned, also have about the fastest depreciation curve of any product, ever. When new, they are thousands of dollars. Immediately when you don't want it anymore, it is worth exactly $0.  

Actually less than $zero. Mrs VCH has been trying to give said piano away for months, and even offering to have me and my trailer deliver it, she's still been dealing with scammers and people asking her to pay them to take it. 

I've asked our church, they don't want it. It's actually a decent instrument, all the keys work,and its not all beat up. Any other ideas?  Any GRMers who want it?  Location is zip 21158. I have a trailer and can deliver a little ways away, BUT - I need help at each end by a strong person to load/ unload. 

It's either that, or I start taking it apart, taking it outside,and burning it. 

Get the matches ready, pianos are almost impossible to give away.  My mother in law just went to assisted living and we cleared out her house, had to PAY to have the piano removed... and it was a "desirable" instrument.

Our church accepted 5 pianos over the years and we couldn't get rid of them.

One day there's a dumpster so I look in to see 5 pianos lined up inside going away.......

It's a sad world we live in. Can't give away organs either.  And it seems like a crime to destroy them.

BTDT. My wife thought it would be brilliant to take one of her church's antique upright pianos so she could start playing again. She last played before her legal driving age. You guessed it; she plinked at it maybe twice before it became a dust collector.

I did eventually get it gone for free via Craigslist, but it was a single response. I still have the dent in my drywall where the two mouth-breathers who took it crashed on the way out the door with it. 

I have two banjos I don't play, but they don't take up any space.

We have an upright in our living room.  None of us play, but it was my grandmother's so it's more sentimental.  Someone donated two uprights to our church festival a few years ago.  I don't recall the details, but we had to pick one up from a house and deliver it to another parishioner's house where it was going to be turned into a bar.  The other was sold in our silent auction and the people running that tent told the buyer that we'd deliver it. 

I knew none of that when I got a phone call that they needed some help moving some things for the festival.  I can absolutely understand why no one will take a free piano.  I cannot think of anything I've ever moved that was worse than a piano.  They are heavy as hell and all the weight is in that giant metal plate so it's balanced all weird.  And once you've moved it, it has to be tuned.  And as bad as that was, we were using a truck with a lift gate, so I can't imagine what that would be like if you thought you'd just pop it in the back of your pickemup.

Assuming you had someone move it for you and then come and tune it, that free piano is probably all of $500-$700 just to get it in place.  Alternately, if you have a friend that's been getting too close and you want to let them go, maybe trick them into helping you get a free piano.

We had a Yamaha electric piano that our kids used when they were young. We ended up donating it to the home that my MIL lives in. It's in the meeting/party room and it's seeing regular use by a few of the residents. Maybe there's something nearby that is similar, where you can donate it?

Trebuchet. 

Gone.

Unless it is a high end name brand not worth anything.  Got one free years ago, gave it away when the kids were grown up.  Wish I could figure out a way to make money on these but the only option is strip it to metal and recycle, throw out the wood bits

I have a 100-year-old 6-foot Chickering Ampico baby grand in my living room.  Ampicos are self-players and I have 30 or more rolls for it.  Against better judgment we took it (for free) from my mother, for much the same reasons as the OP.

The self-player is complete but has never operated in my lifetime.  As a you-play-it piano,  it's OK at best. The finish is completely shot.  It's the piano equivalent of a good parts car.

When we finally decide to get rid of it, I'm dreading having to talk DW down from "must be valuable because antique" to "let's pay someone to get 30 square feet of our living room back."

When I brought this one home (and it's a Baldwin, no idea how "high end" it's but I at least recognize the name) I used my trailer...there was no way I could lift it into my pickemup truck bed, even with help. The trailer floor is only a foot or so off the ground, so that was easier.  

Problem is, I need help just to move the thing. Mrs. VCH is like 110 lbs and 5'2", and my kids are smaller. I'm barely big enough to be half of a piano moving squad. 

We had a baby grand in out old house.  We left it there when we moved.

The new owners wanted it gone.

We had the neighbors over with hammers and saws and breaker bars and tore that thing apart after trying to give it away for weeks.  

They just aren't worth a damn thing.

I gave ours away 20 years ago to my sister. She tried to give it back about 10 years ago. As far as I know, it's still in her living room. 

Earlier this year I had great success listing ours on FB.  It ultimately went about 2 miles away.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/253441023937675/?mibextid=dXMIcH

For me, the key was to add the lead to the movers.  You might want to do similar.  If you are offering delivery, be mindful that someone will want it to go up/down a full flight of stairs.  

20 years ago my dad was given a baby grand piano for free if he moved it out of the house where he was doing some work.   In Massachusetts.  He never played nor did my step mother.

When they retired to Florida they PAID to have it moved down there where it's the focal point of the "piano room".   Dad passed away 10 years ago and next week my sister and I are headed down to clean out the Florida home before it sells.

Free baby grand in Pensacola if anyone wants it.  You move.

Just another step in the long decline of Western Civilization.  We had a piano here for a number of years while my son took lessons and played some.  After a time, he found other interests and we were able to foist, I mean gift, it upon another family with children.

It's a wonderful time to be looking for a free piano.

Some lady gave my son a "free" 60's Wurlitzer organ.  We carried it down into our basement and he messed around for years on that thing.  It was old and some keys weren't any good.  

He didn't want it so it left in pieces to the trash and recycling bin.  Hated to do it but a newer keyboard is what you really want.

I could have written the OP...

In reply to Duke :Chickering is a decent piano, but if it is not maintained the value goes down.  I would get a piano tuner to come out and evaluate it.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Baldwin is also a decent brand.  None of them hold any value but if it is in decent shape there is some value.  I inherited one, worth keeping for the kids.

About 6 months ago my wife got a free piano.

I would have argued, but she's tolerated a lot more yard art than any reasonable person should be asked to, so after voicing my opinion initially, I simply shrugged my shoulders and told her that "if it made her happy, it made me happy."

I put my foot down when someone wanted to give us a "free horse" though.

porschenut said:

In reply to Duke : Chickering is a decent piano, but if it is not maintained the value goes down.  I would get a piano tuner to come out and evaluate it.  

I would be delighted to have it disappear for free, especially if there was a chance it would help someone restore a nicer Ampico.

Convincing my wife of that is going to be the hard part.

I would have been interested but we recently got one about a month ago.  It was an adventure.  Really interesting procedure to move it.  Brought all kinds of ramps, dollies, levers and straps and used most of them with 3 people.  Had two steps to go down, and then up onto the trailer.  Once home, only one step.  I can't imagine getting one down a flight of stairs.

The funny thing is, around here they were FLYING off the marketplace when priced $free.  After chasing probably a dozen, we ended up paying $50 to a lady who had it listed for months with no interest, and the thing is immaculate.  Was worth spending something in order to finally get one, and have a seller actually communicate reasonably.  Apparently putting any price at all on them makes them impossible to sell, as expected...what I did not expect was how quick the free ones actually do get taken!

ToManyProjects said:

About 6 months ago my wife got a free piano.

I would have argued, but she's tolerated a lot more yard art than any reasonable person should be asked to, so after voicing my opinion initially, I simply shrugged my shoulders and told her that "if it made her happy, it made me happy."

I put my foot down when someone wanted to give us a "free horse" though.

This is where I was at...spent a saturday getting it home, because my wife always wanted to get one when 'we had the space' and, now we have the space.  So now we can't hear each other talk when making dinner because the kid is playing up a storm in the next room.  But she loves it.  So there's that..

The horses come next month.  

I saw an organ sitting at the curb with a free sign on it about 20 years ago. I came home, told the kids they could have it if they picked it up. It was one of those things from the 70's with all the switches and knobs on it for setting up different beats, etc. They brought it home, put it in the jam room and got years of use out of it.