I assume the Betsy Ross was made by the Lester Co. She said it was made in the 70's, but I can't find any references to this piano after the 1950's. I have a friend who has her heart set on a Betsy Ross spinet (yes, yes, I know, bad idea).

In many cases a piano that is too old, too small, or simply not good enough will soon become useless to the student. However, a bad purchasing decision at this point in a studentвЂ™s learning tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The firm is most famous for their Betsy Ross Spinet, a.Parents may not want to invest a lot of money in a piano вЂ” after all, the child may lose interest вЂ” so an older, cheaper piano may seem the logical place to start.

Most reputable piano dealers offer month-to-month rental programs.Most styles of Lester Betsy Ross Spinets and Console Pianos are equipped with the exclusive Damp-Chaser to insure regulated moisture control at all times. If youвЂ™re concerned about a childвЂ™s continuing interest, I suggest renting a new instrument now, with an option to purchase it later. If an older piano is chosen, it should be one that was of good quality to begin with, and has been restored to like-new condition. And with a young talented student, moving up to a quality grand is never a mistake. Bench: 20'H x 30'W x 14'D.1950 Lester Betsy Ross Spinet Piano Ad - Dollar for Dollar your best piano buy Listing in the 1950-59,Print Advertising,Merchandise & Memorabilia.For these reasons, I would encourage the financially able family to look at good-quality new pianos, or better used pianos no more than 15 years old. Bench: 20'H x 30'W x 14'D Piano: 37'H x 57'W x 25'D.

In some instances, buyers fascinated by old uprights see them as an opportunity to tinker with and learn something about pianos. Many buyers will purchase an old upright with the idea that it might have antique value, then quickly find out that it doesnвЂ™t. Kohler & Campbell Huntington Cable Cable Nelson Conover Betsy Ross.Although good and bad pianos have been made in every decade, and every used piano must be evaluated on its own merits, certain decades or categories of piano frequently found in todayвЂ™s used-piano market should raise red flags:Old uprights вЂ” These are usually 48вЂі to 60вЂі high and somewhere around 100 years old.

In addition, small pianos, especially spinets, were heavily promoted for their cabinet styling at the expense of their musical qualities.Spinets, which are 36вЂі to 40вЂі high, have a recessed, or вЂњdrop,вЂќ action that is connected to the keys with long вЂњstickersвЂќ of wood or metal. The result was that the few remaining American makers of inexpensive pianos began to cut as much cost as they could from their production. In most cases, this category of used piano should be avoided for use in serious practice.Small, cheap, American-made pianos from the 1960s, вЂ™70s, and вЂ™80s вЂ” During this period, American companies started feeling the competition from Japanese (and, later, Korean) makers who could undercut their prices. Parents who purchase these deteriorating instruments as practice pianos for beginners will probably face a constant stream of complaints and subsequent repairs. Many have difficulty holding a tuning, and/or desperately need new strings, hammers, dampers, or pedal repairs вЂ” or all of the above.

Caution should be used to separate those that have potential as good student instruments from those that donвЂ™t. Even pianos from this period that were well made вЂ” and there were some вЂ” are now 30 to 50 years old, and so are likely to need some restoration before they will be suitable for the student. But many others were passed on to this generationвЂ™s children, and now, as those children retire, a second wave of these instruments is entering the market. Many of these small, cheap pianos were so poorly designed and constructed that, even when new, and regulated and tuned as well as possible, they played poorly and sounded terrible.The first wave of pianos from this era began to enter the used-piano market in the 1980s, as the people who originally purchased them began to retire. Installing a set of replacement elbows can cost hundreds of dollars.Spinets were usually the least expensive entry-level pianos a company would manufacture, and most are not worth repairing. Also, during the 1950s and early вЂ™60s, many spinet actions were manufactured with connecting parts, called вЂњelbows,вЂќ made of plastic вЂ” a technology then in its infancy вЂ” which eventually deteriorated and broke off.

Get repair estimates before you commit to purchasing any used piano. DonвЂ™t buy, without professional guidance, a piano that is not thoroughly playable and tunable, with the idea that you can simply have a few inexpensive repairs done once you get the piano home. These pianos tend to be plagued with sticking keys that repeat too slowly due to poor action design, a problem that canвЂ™t be inexpensively corrected.Of course, the used-piano market also offers many well-made pianos from the past, including some with famous names, that are of potential value to a student, but these can also present pitfalls for the unwary. Especially problematic were the small console pianos without legs (continental furniture style). Replacement parts can be difficult to obtain. Quality control was erratic, and wood was often not properly seasoned, resulting in sticking keys and binding cabinet parts.

Sometimes, just a phone call to a technician will be enough to verify whether or not a particular instrument should be considered a serious candidate if it is, the next step is an inspection by that technician.I have some advice upon certain brands of pianos that probably should not be considered as used pianos that are not on the list of piano brands to avoid. Hire a piano technician to inspect any piano youвЂ™re seriously considering buying. Even the best-intentioned sellers вЂ” including ones who play well вЂ” tend not to be knowledgeable about piano construction and mechanics, and may have absorbed erroneous information about the instrument, or forgotten important things about its history. A piano that was rebuilt 40 years ago is no better than a 40-year-old piano that has never been rebuilt, and if the rebuilding job was not competently done, it could be worse вЂ” itвЂ™s more difficult to properly restore an instrument when certain critical design specifications have been modified due to a past restorerвЂ™s mistakes.Finally, donвЂ™t rely on a private seller for important information about the piano youвЂ™re thinking of buying. The fact that the instrument may have been rebuilt sometime in the past is not necessarily an advantage.

The Kimball spinets during that time were probably typical of any average spinet during that period. Like all other piano manufacturers with a few exceptions, Kimball started to produce spinet pianos by the mid to late 1930s. During the period from the 1880s, 1890s until around 1930, Kimball was considered to be an acceptable piano for the home.

Up until that time Kimball stopped producing pianos in the United States in 1996, they generally offered pianos that were generally disappointing. Kimball became a mediocre piano brand. Once Kimball moved their factory to Indiana in 1959, quality control problems started to emerge.

Betsy Ross Spinet Piano Pricing