Antique Piano Shop Tennessee

Antique Piano Shop Tennessee

What is an antique piano?

An Antique piano is a piano that is at least a hundred years old. Usually, most parts of an antique or vintage piano require restoration to bring their sound back to life. This is where the antique piano restoration shop steps in to refurbish and rework the instrument. Let’s see more on Antique Piano Shop Tennessee.

Tennessee Antique Piano Shop

The Antique Piano Shop was founded by Michael Stinnet. He grew up in the small Quaker community in Friendsville, Tennessee. As a youngster, he was regarded as a prodigy due to his innate ability to play the piano effortlessly. From playing at different functions to even performing for the then-governor at the State Capitol, Stinnet’s star kept rising. By 10 years old, he was taking advanced piano performance college courses. It seemed that Stinnet was destined to become a composer and concert pianist in the future.

He stumbled into the world of (restoring) antique pianos in his early teens when he repaired his family’s old piano because they couldn’t afford a new one. Before he turned 14, he sold that piano and used part of the proceeds to get another piano in need of repair. After fixing it up, he sold it for $500 and by the time he was 18 years old, he set up his first piano repair and tuning store in his Tennessee hometown.

From then on, Michael Stinnet kept learning the craft of rebuilding and tuning pianos. He expanded his business with the times. When the recession of 2008 hit, Stinnet sold the Vintage Piano Shop Corporation to an expert piano technician to help keep the business alive.

After a well-earned hiatus, Stinnet returned to chase his passion and dream of creating a website dedicated to restoration and preservation of antique pianos as well as other related instruments. With over 20 years of experience in restoring pianos, Stinnet set out to put together a group of diversely skilled persons. In collaboration with several expert craftsmen, woodworkers, pianists, technicians, historians, and artisans, Tennessee Antique Piano Shop was established to restore instruments on a small personal customer scale focused on individual client satisfaction.

The Antique Piano Shop provides complete service restoration of antique pianos for museums, businesses, and individuals across the world. It is deeply committed to preserving vintage instruments for future generations to come.

Appraising Antique Pianos

According to the expert opinion of Michael Stinnet, founder of The Antique Piano Shop Tennessee, there are several things to look for when determining the value of a vintage piano. These include:

1. Age: A piano is regarded as vintage once it hits the 100-year mark. The Antique Piano shop typically works on pianos made before the Great Depression (1929 – 1933). However, some pianos that were made during the Second World War can be called vintage due to their historic value.
2. Brand Name: Renowned Brand names such as Knabe and Chickering, Mason & Hamlin, Steinway, and so on tend to be of higher value than less popular brands. Still, this is not always the case as there are pianos from lesser-known brands that are found to be of superior quality to the popular names.
3. Condition: The state an antique piano is in before restoration contributes greatly to how it is valued. For instance, are the pedals working? Is the finish peeling off? What is the condition of the internal strings? Answering these questions can help make or mar the decision to restore the antique instrument.
4. Unique Features: If an antique piano has a custom design or ornate finish, its value will go up. If it was formerly owned by someone famous or a celebrity also adds to the valuation.

Antique Shop Online Gallery and Museum

In addition to restoration work, the Tennessee Antique Piano Shop offers its online museum and gallery as a free educational resource on antique pianos and related instruments.

Visit their website here- antiquepianoshop.com