Tuning the piano

A few weeks ago, I wrote about adopting a piano. The piano tuner came yesterday and examined the piano. First, he took all the panels off

to discover that due to neglect, there were cobwebs and other detritus which had to be removed by the judicious use of a vacuum cleaner. After looking at the piano, the tuner realised that he recognised it: he had tuned it a few years ago and replaced a few strings. The family who owned the family had no room for it and stored it outside - which is why there are cobwebs inside and a cracked polyurethane finish on the outside. But otherwise, the piano is in good condition.

It transpires that the piano is actually a very good piano; the tuner was prepared to pay 15,000 NIS (about $4,150) for it on the spot, and he said that it was worth upto 20,000 NIS ($5,550). Apparently a new model sells for about 80,000 NIS ($22,200)! 

There are quite a few repairs which need to be done: a few dampeners have been lost (that's why the F above middle C rings for so long), the pedal action needs to be fixed, and the entire piano needs to be tuned. But all of this will cost only 500 NIS, which is what I expected. As far as I could gather from the internet, tuners charge by how much work they have to do, where the price ranges from 250-500 NIS. I expected that we would be at the top range of the scale.

From the way the tuner was talking, I had a feeling that there was a great deal of work to be done, so I was relieved when he said that it would cost 'only' 500 NIS. He lives locally, which is very good, and will come again on Wednesday morning with the replacement parts. Then he'll do all the necessary work.