Has anyone done this before? Did you pay for a piano inspection before listing it? I would like to donate it for a tax write off but I’m hoping I won’t have to pay to have it picked up. Appreciate any tips people can send my way!
Years ago my parents donated an upright piano to the Salvation Army and they sent a couple of people to move it (down four flights of stairs!!). Didn’t cost us anything. I don’t know if they still do that, though.
Thanks, dancingmom – I forgot about Salvation Army.
When DH and I downsized five years ago, we finally found an acquaintance who took it from us. They paid to have it moved (no easy feat). We were thrilled that someone got it who actually wanted it.
It was very difficult to get rid of. We got lucky.
Will charities take them? What do they do with them? Here it seemed that every house with a formal lounge room had one when we went house hunting 10 yrs ago, now no one has them. Where did they all go?
Any schools that would have use for it?
Our former church was gifted a very high quality grand piano. We paid for some maintenance after it was moved. Not sure if we paid for the move or not.
Timely topic. My parents live in what’s called a “garden home” in their very nice CCRC in central Maryland. Their home has a great room which accommodates my mother’s 1949 Steinway baby grand piano. Due to some health issues, they are most likely going to move to an apartment in the assisted living section sometime n the next 12-18 months. Needless to say, the piano cannot go with them.
At this point, because none of us kids (or grandkids) have the space or desire, we are looking to re-home the piano at one of several small colleges in the area. It’s really a beautiful piece of furniture (walnut case) that has been meticulously maintained (refurbished at the Steinway factory in NYC about 5 years ago) but it has a really big sound as my Dad can certainly attest to. It would be perfect for a smaller concert hall. I know my mother has considered selling but this piano was a gift from her parents on her 13th birthday that she has treasured all her life. It means more to her that it goes someplace where it will be played and enjoyed rather than sell it as a piece of furniture to dress up someone’s home. I know she is terribly disappointed the piano will not be staying in the family and will be very sad the day it has to go.
Kind of a long winded explanation but the colleges are interested because the piano is in such good shape. We have been assuming all along that whatever school will take it will come pick it up (because they’re getting a free, very nice piano) but we’re not far enough along in the process for me to say definitively. Perhaps you can check with the smaller colleges or even larger secondary schools in your area. Any place that has a small to medium size concert hall may be interested. providing the piano is in good shape musically.
Thanks all. I have called a few music schools; they said no. Then a friend told me about piano adoption dot com – they will take your piano away for free but only after you list it and someone wants it. So I guess someone is paying for that service somehow, right?
I could list it on Craigs List for free (as long as they move it out) but would prefer not to do that.
The big thing is finding someone who wants it “for free” but will bear the cost of moving it out.
A few years back a school where my daughters went at the time sent out a request for a piano. I think that they got two and if I remember correctly a different parent or two donated enough to have the pianos moved (which also requires tuning right after moving and again a month or two later). My recollection is that the music teacher at the school inspected the two pianos before the school accepted them.
You might have to look around some but there should be a good cause that can use it.
Thanks DadTwoGirls. This is all part of the slow decluttering to eventually sell. I remember it took my parents a solid year to figure out what to donate and where (and what to just toss). We’re talking about 20 years of accumulated stuff.
I don’t know about where you are, but we look at the real estate listings in our area and have to laugh at the ubiquitous requisite piano. I’m a bit dubious as to how much they actually get played, but it seems like if you have a mcmansion, you must have a mcpiano.
SyrAlum,
Have they thought about giving it to the community where they live? The retirement communities around here have several pianos in various places that are used by groups that come in and perform for the residents.
@motherbear332 They have looked into that but their CCRC has a number of pianos in common areas as well as performance areas and doesn’t need anymore. The CCRC administrators have let them know they receive many offers of piano donations from both inside and outside the community.
I’ll see if I can do a search later tonight but a couple of years ago there was a very good article detailing how piano ownership, long seen as an indication that a family had reached middle class, has really fallen off. A lot of especially older pianos are now ending up in landfills after being broken into pieces…it was quite an interesting read.
Did you check with your school district? A grand may not fit their needs- ours hauled away our upright- but contacting a music department may yield a teacher who would love it or knows someone…
We could never afford a piano growing up so I got one- son did lessons one year only and I never could get into it (had played wind instruments as a kid). Years later I see where keyboards would be better. Times change.
Only twenty years??? My father’s small house (mother died decades ago) will be cleaned out after he dies. He is so slowly going through stuff- and creating a mess as he does so. But we can’t just get rid of stuff- no, those decades old electric meters he had as samples might go to a museum someone might set up someday… He has more and more memory issues and anxiety if someone just does the job. Always was a procrastinator. Will find numerous copies of the same birthdays and phone info he keeps wanting to write down when we talk, sigh.
H and I decluttered (never were packrats) when we downsized and have done it again. Every so often that big plastic bin of cords and cables yields something useful. If H outlives me son will need to get rid of stuff no one wants, at least i have it organized (note use of I, not we…).
Thanks for letting me vent, folks. It was frustrating to figure out what to do with a perfectly good (needed tuning) piano several years ago.
This is why I insisted on getting my son a digital piano when he started playing. 
It’s a very very nice instrument, but he can take it with him when he goes, without needing specialty movers or tuning.
I know he’d love to have that baby grand, though.
It’s not just the moving.
Is the piano in good condition? Is the sound board in good shape? Does it hold a thing?
What size baby grand…?
What wood?
What kind?
Some will be very easy to unload…others…not so much so.
When we had a piano to unload, we called a few piano teachers we knew…and someone took it from us…they paid to,have it moved.
All good points, thumper. I actually spoke to a nice piano technician and asked what he would charge to evaluate it; he said I should call him when I’m at the piano and he could pretty much diagnose it over the phone! So we spoke last night, and he said it’s in good shape/able to be donated. I played each key; each one had it’s own pitch (off because in need of tuning). Strings are all intact.
I didn’t know baby grands came in different sizes! How would I measure it? Can’t tell what kind of wood – not cherry, not maple.
I’m sure thumper meant, will it hold a tuning? That’s a very important question.
Pianos vary greatly, from the nice Steinway described above to “piano-shaped objects.” If you want to know a lot more about the subject, your local library may have “The Piano Book” by Larry Fine. It has a lot of info about buying new and used pianos, which would also be instructive about giving away or selling a used piano.
In any case, if you put it on Craig’s List or Freecycle, it is likely that somebody will come and take it off your hands.
We had a lovely upright that I"d inherited. We tired to sell it on Craig’s list but had no success. Finally I reposted it as free but I did require that they hire professional piano movers (this was noted in the listing) and I did have someone very happy to get it as a surprise gift for her husband.