Can't give them away: Vintage upright pianos are meeting a sorry end

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Can't give them away: Vintage upright pianos are meeting a sorry end

‘The era for old uprights is coming to a close,' P.E.I. tuner says with regret

Sara Fraser, Stephen Brun · CBC News · Posted: Dec 26, 2024 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: December 26

https://i.cbc.ca/1.7405353.1733765388!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_1180/piano-players.jpg

Janine Gosbee was surprised there were no takers for her vintage upright piano, 'considering I'm trying to give it away for free.' (Laura Meader/CBC)

Scroll through an online for-sale site like Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace and you will almost always spot old upright pianos on offer, either for free or for a very, very low price.

The wooden pianos can be beautiful, but the ads tend to stay up a while because the instruments are very heavy to move and often out of tune.

"At one point in time, I thought at least every other home had a piano, because I could drive down the street and say, 'I've been there, I've been there, I've been there,'" says Mike Klomp, who has been tuning and repairing pianos on Prince Edward Island for more than 35 years.

Klomp used to take free upright pianos, fix them up and sell them. Now he won't take them, because there is no market for them. ... "I couldn't even resell it, because the amount that I would have to put into it would exceed the amount I would ever get for it. It's unfortunate," he said.

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