Services

I purchased a fully restored 1925 Steinway B from Mr. Searles in May 2019. After seeing the piano online, I contacted him and requested additional photographs, which he quickly sent. The piano seemed so attractive that I drove 260 miles each way to view and to play it.

As soon as Mr. Searles opened the door to his workshop to reveal the instrument, I saw that the pictures had done little justice to the actual piano: it was absolutely exquisite. Every detail of the restoration work evinced a fanatical commitment to precision, aesthetic beauty, craft and profession. Mr. Searles had used genuine Steinway parts to restore the complete action. He had painstakingly repaired a couple of minor cracks in the original soundboard while also cleaning and refinishing it; the down-bearing was excellent, capable of producing that rare tonal combination of power, nuance, crunch and warmth. He had sanded and re-stained the original ebony sharps. He had rebronzed the plate and painstakingly repainted all lettering on the plate. He had restrung the piano with new Mapes strings. The satin ebony refinishing of the case was impeccable. The Steinway decal on the fall board was exactly affixed. Also hardware had been stripped and replated. He had even slid tiny rubber tubes onto the lid hinge pins in order to prevent inadvertent gouging of the finish near the hinges. Inspection by an independent piano technician and by my usual tuner concurred: This is an extraordinary instrument, bearing a serial number from 1925, but actually brand new in all essentials.

In short: Mr. Searles had restored the piano to a condition exceeding that of a factory-new Steinway – at a sale price vastly below that of a factory-new instrument.

Sellers of used/restored pianos are often in the same category as sellers of used cars – and it’s not a particularly honorable one. So how much greater were my pleasure and relief in finding Mr. Searles’s honesty and integrity to be in the same league as his restoration work. He does not spout hype and hyperbole – his work quietly, yet firmly says all. He does not pressure the prospective buyer – the quality of his work and his personal character will convince the potential buyer and compel the purchase. Furthermore, he is a mild and gentle man.

I was – and continue to be – dumbfounded by the quality of the piano and deeply grateful that fortune led me to the long road from my house to Mr. Searles’s workshop. Thanks to him and his work, I have the dream piano of a lifetime.