27 Pianos in an 1100-Square-Foot House

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to tell you the story of how we had 27 pianos in an 1100-square-foot house. It’s actually the story of how I got into selling pianos. It all begins with how I started teaching piano.

I started teaching piano when I was still in high school.

I assisted my father, Morton Estrin, with his teaching, as my sister did before me. It was my part-time job throughout my conservatory years. Teaching has always been a mainstay. People would call me for lessons, and the first question I would always ask was, Do you have a piano? If they didn’t, I would tell them, honestly, you’re better off with a piano and no lessons than lessons and no piano. So I was turning away students right and left, and I couldn’t really afford to do that. We were kind of struggling financially. I was driving my Pinto all over the county and beyond! This was in southern Indiana since I graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington.

Eventually, I bought a big old upright and moved it myself.

I ended up moving hundreds of those big, tall uprights. Thank goodness I lifted correctly and fortunately, never hurt my back. So the next time somebody called for lessons, I asked if they had a piano, and they said no. I said that I had one they could try out. And sure enough, they bought the piano! I got another student, and everything was good. So I was bold and bought two more. But my piano technician came in and told me that the bass bridges on both pianos were cracked. I always checked out the pianos. I would look at the hammers and the soundboards, but I never thought of taking out the kickboard. Sure enough, the bass bridges were cracked on both pianos! My technician said he didn’t do that kind of work, but he recommended another tuner. So I called them up, and they came over. I didn’t really have the money to fix it. So I asked if there was any way he could do the work, and then when I sold the pianos, I could pay him and split the profit. And he was nice enough to agree to that. So we did that. Sure enough, both pianos sold, and they both made a profit. So I realized that this was something we could scale (pun intended!).

Before we knew it, we had five pianos, then seven pianos, and we topped out at 27 pianos!

We had a walk-out basement. I also had my recording studio down there. I’ve always been into music technology. We had a lot of the pianos upstairs because, among those pianos, six of them were grand pianos! We had two young children at the time. Eventually, we topped out at 27 pianos in an 1100-square-foot house! That’s right. This is real. It’s not just clickbait. We actually did that. Since that time, we’ve always had pianos in our home. And we still do right here in the Waterloo Arts District. This beautiful historical building was originally built in the 1860s, if you can believe it. We have two showrooms down here, and we live on the two levels above. Down in the basement, we have our ping-pong table. We play almost every night! The other half of our pianos are up the street at Treelawn Music Hall, where they have a phenomenal jazz program in a small venue and a large music hall where they have a 9-foot concert grand Steinway we sold them. We have our pianos there in what used to be a bowling alley. So we literally live with these pianos, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now my teaching is all online, and it’s a joy. Teaching and pianos, along with performing and recording technology, have been the mainstays since my high school days. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

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