Author Topic: Stored my piano on Craigslist  (Read 4024 times)

Weedy Acres

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Stored my piano on Craigslist
« on: February 14, 2015, 12:33:09 PM »
23 years ago I bought a piano from a guy for $400.  It was an oldy back then, and a bit dinged up, but a full upright, capable of really big sound, and really fun to play. It has moved with me to 6 different homes, but home #7 is a serious downsize and since we've decided to stay this small for the near term, it wasn't worth paying $130/month to keep it and a bunch of other stuff in climate-controlled storage.

The fact is, I haven't even played it much at all in the past 5 years.  So now it's a millstone, because the resale market for pianos isn't that great.  And we now live in a small town, so CL isn't real big.  I posted it anyway a couple months ago, and in the meantime have been asking around friends and family to see if anyone wants a piano.  Other than the usual spammers that wanted to send their shippers around, it was pretty dead.

Then I got a text 10 days ago from someone who's first question was "can I come by and play it?"  That's the sign of a real piano player, and someone who would appreciate my piano for what it could do.  Today she drove a UHaul with her dad from 150 miles away to pick it up. I had the storage unit cleared out so she could sit down and play.  She started in with the Chariots of Fire theme and I actually got a bit teary-eyed, remembering the sounds it has produced for me over the years, and realizing my piano was going to a very good home.  As we were loading it, she said she grew up with a "real" piano like this one, and wanted to give her kids the opportunity to grow up playing one just like it.   She said it was definitely going to become a family heirloom.

Given that I haven't even played the thing much lately, I was surprised it brought out that much emotion in me.  A combination of regret at losing a friend but happiness that it is going to the perfect new owner.

And I got my $400 back.  If/when we upsize again, I can go get a "real" piano out of storage on CL.  That helps lessen the regret a little.

Cwadda

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Re: Stored my piano on Craigslist
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2015, 02:33:44 PM »
Great story.

I have an emotional connection with my piano as well. My mom and dad bought a light action studio Yamaha upright for me when I was 9 for $2200. We traveled 100 miles so I could play it. It has monetarily paid back over tenfold since then.

I intend to pass it on in my lifetime - hopefully with a case as good as yours. Then I want to go on a quest (a Mustachian one though) for a grand piano, hopefully a Steinway!

ender

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Re: Stored my piano on Craigslist
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2015, 02:56:48 PM »
Reading this practically put tears in my eyes.

As a musician in a former life (my childhood) who spent many hours on an instrument, I know exactly how it would feel to see a huge piece of that past go to a place you know it will be cared for and used to again create beautiful music.

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Stored my piano on Craigslist
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2015, 03:56:56 PM »
Always a great feeling when something you appreciate and enjoy goes to a good home. I sold a motorcycle a few years back and was very happy to know it went to a true enthusiast who would care for it and enjoy it as much as I did.

bigalsmith101

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Re: Stored my piano on Craigslist
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2015, 01:52:43 PM »
My dad took the initiative to sell our family's upright piano that my mother inherited from her mother. My sister is the piano player in the family, and having moved out after high school, the piano wasn't seeing any use. It needed to be tuned though, so it was worth less that he could sell it for.

So, my dad put the piano up for sale on craigslist. He listed the piano for $1, with the caveat that he chose the buyer based on need and future use.

After being inundated with emails, my dad chose the new owner. A family man with twin daughters that were currently playing on a less than satisfactory keyboard. He wanted his daughters to have a "REAL" piano that would fill the house with music.

And so, he showed up with his pickup on a sunny Sunday morning and he, my dad, and my twin brother and I heaved the piano into his pickup (with a ramp). He had 3 friends meeting him at his house to unload.

My dad insisted on the $1 bill. The man understood the significance and my dad pinned that $1 bill to cork board in his office. It's still there, over 12 years later.

iknowiyam

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Re: Stored my piano on Craigslist
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2015, 04:59:44 PM »
Does anyone know how much it costs to have a piano professionally moved? I live in a big city, and I know there are many piano-movers around. It would be a local move...

1967mama

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Re: Stored my piano on Craigslist
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2015, 05:06:35 PM »
We have a big, 100 year old piano in our living room along with a brand spankng new Yamaha. I was saving the old one for my daughter but after reading this, I'm wondering if I should give it away and bless someone else? I see free pianos on Craigslist all the time, so I think this is a sunk cost. We paid $2000 for it about 15 years ago. 

2ndTimer

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Re: Stored my piano on Craigslist
« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2015, 09:02:06 AM »
1967 Mama:

I was the recipient of a free piano from inlaws and it was amazing to get something that sounded so good.  I had been fantasizing about a Goodwill keyboard.