I first found my 1921 Chickering Ampico upright after years of
searching through the MMD.  It was nearby and only $50.  I moved it
with a friend.  The owner was ready to destroy it herself to get it
out of the basement if nobody took it.  That was in 2003.  At that
time I didn't know where I would live or where I would work when
I graduated college.  I was 22 years old.

A friend and I moved it ourselves, but two guys who weigh about 130
pounds can't manage a piano very well with no dolly and its original
casters; it ended up tipping over and hitting the concrete floor of the
garage on its back -- BANG!  A year later (after being stored in an
unheated Michigan garage) I had it tuned.  The pinblock was okay, said
the technician.  The cabinet was very rough, the hammers needed
replacement, the action needed rebuilt, and the Ampico was completely
unrestored.

Now the piano is hundreds of miles from where I live.  I would need
to spend nearly a thousand dollars moving it.  It had been in heated
storage long enough to cost about $1,200 in storage unit rental fees
and moving fees.  Now I realize the piano has several substantial
cracks in the soundboard and what might be a crack in the pinblock.
A piano technician estimated that the entire instrument would need to
be rebuilt including the soundboard at a cost around or exceeding
$10,000.  I don't have it.

The Ampico mechanism will be saved, in its entirety.  I don't know who
would want the parts.  I'd like to sell them, but am not sure there is
actually a market for the parts.  I will save them regardless.

With these instruments at nearly 100 years old they all need major
work.  A piano is not supposed to last forever.  It can't.  So I wonder
whether or not I'll ever buy an old piano in the future if they're all
so decrepit.  Of course I'd love one, but within the limits of what
I can afford and preferably not more than 50 miles away.

Damon Atchison
St. Louis, Missouri