Any question answered...

Nah I know what SLRs are but I'd still know what someone was talking about if they were referring to a mirrorless interchangeable lens system.

what should I call the higher end cameras? Those that allow you to interchange lenses etc.

MILC, EVIL or DSLM

High end digital camera?

Anyone know a rough annual cost to store an upright piano in a way that keeps it playable? The family is clearing late Gran's house and we would love to take her piano but don't have room in current home.

rough annual cost to store an upright piano

Likely more than it's worth. In many cases, even moving a mass produced piano will cost more than it's worth. To keep it in good nick even in climate controlled storage it will want tuning annually. Depending on your location, you could be looking at £600-£1200 to keep something worth £300.

Thank you for the info.

Can you buy playable, tunable 2nd hand pianos for £300? I thought the ones that are sold cheaply are no longer properly tunable. (I have no idea about the market, just remember reading that somewhere.)

Often near me I see them listed for free, but you have to collect it. I guess the cost of moving one outweighs the hassle.

But, if it's sentimental value, then you're paying to store it to keep it for a house that it will fit in one day.

Can you buy playable, tunable 2nd hand pianos for £300?

Look on gumtree etc., claimed playable pianos given away free to anybody who will take them away.

Yeah this.
My BiL has used unloved ones for a few “art” projects, from burnings to ghost pianos. People can’t give them away.

I know you can get them for free. I thought that was because they are too expensive to make playable again, and no one wants the cost of moving an unplayable piano.

By playable I really mean can be brought back into tune - ie there is a significant and expensive gap between the pianos that are given away free, and the ones that can be made playable again.

Could be wrong though.

In my part of the world well cared for pianos are no easier to get rid of than unplayable ones.

Cheers, that's what I wanted to know. Sounds like used cars then - second hand could be good or a lemon so take someone who knows about pianos and the cost if fixing them or buy from a dealer. I'll have a think about how much keeping Gran's piano means to me.

My sister had a surprisingly good experience contacting the piano manufacturer about her upright that needed repairing. They quoted for repairing, then offered a refurbished baby grand for the same cost. And they took the upright. They seem to take back their old pianos to refurb for little profit.
Eta: the company is called Broadwood

Broadwood

We have a Broadwood (a Boudoir grand from the good years), they are a mid-market maker, so not Steinway/Bosendorfer but more valuable than school room beaters. Still not worth paying to store, unless you accept that you're spending the money purely to keep it in the family for sentimental reasons.

It wasn't about storage, more a potential avenue for buying a second hand piano that ought not to be a dud. And if @brokenbetty 's (gran's) piano happens to be a Broadwood or another manufacturer still in operation, they might take it back.

I'll have a think about how much keeping Gran's piano means to me.

Pretty sure ours will go on mother's pyre when the time comes. It served her well as an ersatz Morrison shelter during the Blitz, and now as both a memento of her grandmother and mother and a thorn in father's flesh as he lost half his front room without consultation or warning when my great aunt moved out of the family home and landed us with the instrument, but neither I nor any of my siblings has any interest in keeping it.

Anyone know what caterpillar this is?

3 Attachments

@dancing James

Drinker moth? The only way to be sure is to taste it though – hints of orange and it's a drinker moth, any other citrus or berry flavours and it's likely something else. If it doesn't crunch then it isn't yet ripe and you should have left it a few more weeks before sampling.

Update from a&e

Processionary moth caused throat to close up.

Emergency klaxon - anyone near bath spa train station with a pump?

..

Hop on a train to Frome and I’ll sort you out.

Notes of berry then? What of the crunch?

You know nothing of the crunch.