piano?

[lissaw70]

There should be a metal plate somewhere on the inside..........pos sibly if the top lifts?.........I'm not entirely sure where an upright opens up.......but where ever there's access to the sound board is where it'll be found.  This plate will list the name of the brand as well as where it was manufactured.

Also......most piano's come with 3 pedals........altho ugh I can't swear that some came with 4.  And my mom's upright has a set of spindle-type legs in the front that stabilized the keyboard.  The number would refer to the model.......and if you know what brand you have........you should be able to google the name of the piano......and get info from there.  I know some time ago I acquired a used piano........and searched for mine this way.

[atomic mary]

thanks for mentioning where to find the brand. i would never have thought of that!
atomic mary

[atomic mary]

well, i just looked for the name or whatever. no name but another # 2  4841.  it was pretty dusty in there! and there were some papers down farther than i can't reach. it looks like they just sneaked in there. probably some of my kids' homework that we thought was lost! 
i don't think i'll look in there again anytime soon. it's VERY dusty! and kinda creepy. so i have 2 # and no name. ah well.
thanks for your help
atomic mary

[lissaw70]

There could also be a plate underneath the keyboard..........w ith the brand name........or on the back panel somewhere. 

I just glanced through this.........the number you provided was only shown a few times.........(indicates year of manufacture)

I saw one as far back as the early 1900's..........
And one as early as 1965..........

But value would depend on a few things........

1.  style of cabinet
2.  brand name
3.  year.....(once you find the brand you should be able to narrow it down here)
4.  condition it's in.......cabinet-wise it could still be very desirable to a collector depending on when it's from and how much detail the woodwork contains..........

[sonjabegonia]

My high school piano instructor used an old upright piano as a storage unit for piano music.  The top part was gutted, but she kept the swinging lid (the one you'd open to see all of the strings/keys) intact so there would be a cover.  It was great!  A very nice contrast to the 2 side-by-side baby grands in her basement piano studio. 

[bookstorebabe]

How about contacting the music department at whatever school/college is near you? They might know who you'd contact in your area.Someone has to maintain the school pianos, or maybe one of the teachers is knowledgeable about old pianos. If you could get someone to come out and take a look at it, that would be perfect. Word to the wise-you may not want to sell it to the person doing the appraising, or at least let them know you're getting 2 opinions(no matter if you really are or not). Most are honest, but it's not unheard of for someone unscrupulous to tell you it's junk, offer to take it off your hands, and resell for a tidy bit.
Even if it is just worth a few hundred, like you said,that's a lot of craft supplies! Good luck.

[SalutingMagpies]

I actually had a very similar burden treat when I moved house 6 months ago. The garden was full of rubbish, and when we cleared it all out we found an upright piano against the garden wall.
It's obviously been outside for some time, and even though English weathers aren't a patch on Canadian ones, the veneer has all peeled off.

When the rain stops I'm going to paint some flowers on it and maybe varnish it to protect it a bit. I quite like the aged look of it now, but I don't want it to fall apart! I bought some clematis so I may train that to grow over it.

I'll try to post some photos when I'm done so you can live vicariously through me (or see what a grand mess you avoided making!!)

[SalutingMagpies]

So this is my piano:



Now that the bad weather is easing off, should I just grow a plant over it, or paint it somehow?

[blenderbabe22384]

I loved the aged wood you should clear coat it and plant something viney out of the top and plant sothing small and delicate between the keys, aybe add some moss and stone around the bottom amke it look like its been there for ever and nature just took it over.

[SalutingMagpies]

Thanks, I really like that idea, I hadn't thought of moss & stones around the base. That's just what I want though - to make it look like nature just took it over.

I don't suppose anyone knows what would be best to coat it with, just an outdoor wood varnish?