Like online marketplaces, we too have many free pianos! But please be advised, there's a reason they're free. The Basket Case Piano simply isn't worth anything and are in fact, financial liabilities when the condition of the piano is such that the cost of making it sound good and play well exceeds the value of the piano. Making matters more challenging, piano removal services, (removing a piano from a home and disposing it) starts around $500, so it certainly makes sense that owners would LOVE to give it away. We've even seen sellers offer to help PAY for the move to prevent having to pay even more to have it professionally removed and disposed of.
What makes a Basket Case more difficult to detect is that the owners don't always know their piano is a Basket Case. They truly believe it "just needs to be tuned". They don't know if the tuning pins can no longer hold a tune or if the soundboard has cracked. They also don't know, for instance, if mice have made a bungalow out of that warm cabinet, filled with felt and wool which make for comfy nests! Here is an example of one of these nests from a piano that was purchased privately.
The felt and wool used to make this nest are from internal components which are expensive to replace. What makes this example unique is that this nest wasn't in a free or really inexpensive piano. It was taken from an otherwise perfect, relatively new Yamaha console piano that was in a really nice, unsuspecting home and sold for market value. Mice don't know or care if they are squatting in a 100-year-old saloon upright or a brand new handmade grand. They just want the perfect cabin that is the inside of a piano.
Countless piano buyers everywhere have been duped by the "Basket Case" and its ring of nice-looking pianos. Click on the thumbnails for pictures and descriptions of what lurks beneath the mask of this used piano's dangerously attractive exterior. Consider that each of the problems this piano has could very well be inside a much nicer-looking piano – like one that is the exact size, brand, style and finish you might decide you're looking for.
Click on the pictures below for close-ups and descriptions!
