I think that $ 1600.00 is way out of line for a Beckwith player.  The
piano is so so and there have been many players with better pianos
available in the $200 to $400 range.

In our piano business a general rule of thumb is that the pianos
manufactured on the east coast (Mason & Hamlin,  Stienway, Shomer,
Stroud, Chickering, Knabe, A.B. Chase, etc.) are the better pianos.
The further you get away from the east coast the piano manufacturers
made pianos with poorer quality pianos.  Remember this is just a rule
of thumb and I guess there were exceptions I do not know about.

There are little indicators that an untrained person can spot to tell
you if the piano you are considering is a good one.  In old uprights
it is always easier to rebuild a piano that has never been touched by
someone.  I look for little things like a full fallboard hinge made of
brass and not steel.  Three pedals on an old piano means nothing.
Stienway had two.

Look for a sound board of solid spruce.  The grain in those soundboards
is straight and runs at an angle to the floor.  There are harmonic stop
blocks on the top left side and bottom right side on the back of the
soundboard. The ribs on the back of the piano go the full length of the
soundboard into the edge of the piano. The bridges in the piano are
notched on both the speaking side of the string and the side of the
string that goes to the hitch pins.  A good bass bridge is curved and
not straight.  The keys are covered with ivory and not celluloid that
looks like ivory.  All the keys have weights and not just the naturals
(white keys).

Remember there were 6,000 different brand names out there.  Your better
pianos have the name cast into the harp.  Some pianos have what looks
like the name cast into the harp but is actually an overlay bolted on
the harp.  A decal on the harp is what is known as a stencil piano which
was made by a manufacturer for a non-manufacturer such as a music store.
The black keys are real ebony and not some stained hardwood.  When an
old piano has been played by hand enough you can see the lighter colored
wood under the black stain or paint.

Some manufacturers used steel wound bass strings instead of copper.
Some even copper plated the steel windings so that they would appear
to be solid copper.  Look close and you can see the end of the windings
are steel.  Some had copper on part of the bass strings and steel on
the lowest notes.

Remember these are our rule of thumb indicators we look for.  I wrote
some of the chapter on evaluating old pianos in the second edition of
Piano, Tuning, and Repair by Arthur Reblitz should you seek more
information.  If  you are serious about player pianos then you should
have  the Reblitz books on piano repair and player pianos.  What to
look for in old player mechanisms is another book someone else can
write.  (Unless you want to know why everyone should have a nickelodeon
then let me tell you).

Don Teach

Shreveport Music Co
1610 E. Bert Kouns
Shreveport,  LA  71105
dat-smc@juno.com