Is it best to buy a rebuilt piano with a new soundboard?
Not necessarily. Each piano is different. Anytime a new soundboard is installed, the original sound of the piano will be altered, sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst. A careful installation will improve the power of a piano with an old, flat, poorly deteriorated board. However, in some rare and prestigious antique pianos like 19th century Bsendorfers and Erards, we feel it would be a mistake to replace the boards. The European piano makers used a different type of wire than the Americans. The pianos were not under such extreme tension and so the pinblocks and soundboards held up well. So today, 120 year-old soundboards in these pianos can still sing beautifully.
