YOUR FAMILY PIANO DOESN'T HAVE TO BE LOST FOREVER
If your family's piano no longer stays in tune, needs major repairs, or restoring it simply no longer makes financial sense, it may feel like your only choices are spending thousands on a traditional rebuild or saying goodbye to something that's been part of your family's story for years.
We believe there should be another choice.
At Ragland Piano Company, we give cherished pianos a new life by preserving the cabinet, authentic piano touch, and familiar presence of the original instrument while replacing the worn acoustic components with modern digital technology.
For many families, the decision isn't between restoring the piano and converting it. It's between giving it a practical future—or eventually losing it altogether.
TRADITIONAL RESTORATION VS. DIGITAL CONVERSION
Many people first consider a traditional acoustic restoration, and in some cases that can be the right choice. Historically significant instruments, truly rare pianos, or extremely high quality piano often deserve to continue life as acoustic pianos and are financially viable to restore.
Unfortunately, many older pianos require extensive rebuilding before they can once again perform as quality acoustic instruments. Replacing or repairing the soundboard, bridges, pinblock, strings, tuning pins, and rebuilding the action can become a major investment. Depending on the piano and the amount of structural work required, the internal restoration alone can easily reach $10,000–$20,000 or more before considering cabinet refinishing.
For many families, the question isn't whether the piano is worth restoring—it's whether restoring it makes practical financial sense.
A custom digital conversion offers another option. Because the acoustic sound-producing components are replaced, the condition of the soundboard, bridges, strings, and pinblock is no longer a limiting factor. The original cabinet and, in many cases, the original piano action can be preserved while providing the convenience, reliability, and enjoyment of a modern digital instrument.
The cabinet restoration is essentially the same whether the piano is restored acoustically or converted digitally. The difference lies primarily in what happens inside the piano.
Once the decision has been made to convert rather than restore, the advantages of a modern digital instrument become compelling.
NOT ALL DIGITAL CONVERSIONS ARE THE SAME
There are several ways to convert an acoustic piano into a digital instrument.
Some simply install a complete donor digital piano inside the original cabinet. While this can be an economical solution, it generally retains the donor instrument's electronics, action, and control system.
Our Digicoustic conversions take a different approach.
Digicoustic systems are built around a standardized, modular platform that has been refined through years of development. Using common components across most projects helps reduce costs, simplifies future service and upgrades, and avoids dependence on proprietary assemblies. In upright conversions, we typically install a completely new acoustic piano action and matching keyset, providing a fresh playing experience and precise compatibility with the digital system. Customers who wish to preserve their original keys for sentimental reasons may choose to have them rebuilt and retained, although doing so requires additional labor and custom fitting. Grand piano projects are evaluated individually, with the original action being reconditioned, rebuilt, or replaced based on its condition and the customer's goals.
The result is an instrument that combines the appearance and feel of a traditional piano with technology designed for long-term serviceability and future upgrades.
IS YOUR PIANO A GOOD CANDIDATE?
A digital conversion may be the right choice if your piano is important to your family but no longer practical to keep as an acoustic instrument.
A conversion may be an excellent choice if:
• Your piano has sentimental value but no longer performs well acoustically.
• Restoring it acoustically would cost more than makes practical sense.
• You'd like to preserve the piano rather than replace it.
• You want the touch of a real piano action without the ongoing tuning and maintenance of a traditional acoustic piano.
• You practice frequently and would benefit from headphone capability.
• You would like access to multiple piano sounds, organs, electric pianos, synthesizers, strings, choirs, and more.
• You want a system designed for long-term serviceability and future upgrades rather than one dependent on proprietary electronics.
A REAL PIANO ACTION
Unlike most factory digital pianos, our Digicoustic systems retain a genuine acoustic piano action whenever practical.
Depending on the project, the action may be:
• Reconditioned
• Rebuilt
• Completely New
The result is a playing experience much closer to a traditional acoustic piano than a typical digital keyboard.
Only our Standard Digital conversions use a donor digital piano action. Even then, we select quality hammer-action instruments rather than inexpensive spring-key keyboards.
NO TUNING
One of the biggest advantages of a digital piano is that it never requires tuning.
Seasonal humidity changes, temperature fluctuations, and years of use no longer affect the instrument's pitch. Whether the piano has been played yesterday or has sat untouched for months, it is ready to play immediately.
LIGHTER WEIGHT
During a Digicoustic conversion, the cast iron plate, strings, tuning pins, and other heavy acoustic components are removed.
The finished instrument is significantly lighter than the original acoustic piano, making future moves easier and reducing the physical strain on floors, movers, and homeowners.
PRACTICE ANY TIME
Headphone capability allows you to practice at any hour without disturbing family members or neighbors.
By removing many of the inconveniences of an aging acoustic piano while adding modern capabilities, many families find themselves playing the piano more often than they have in years.
MORE THAN ONE PIANO
A digital piano is not limited to a single sound.
Depending on the system selected, you may have access to world-class sampled grand pianos, uprights, historical instruments, electric pianos, pipe organs, harpsichords, synthesizers, strings, choirs, and many other sounds.
Instead of owning one instrument, you gain access to an entire collection.
MIDI AND RECORDING
Because the instrument is digital, it can communicate directly with computers, tablets, and music software using MIDI.
Whether you're recording music, composing, teaching online, controlling virtual instruments, or simply learning to play, MIDI opens possibilities that simply are not available with a traditional acoustic piano.
MODERN TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN GROW WITH YOU
Our Digicoustic systems are designed around modular components rather than proprietary all-in-one electronics.
As technology improves, many components can be upgraded without replacing the entire instrument. Software, amplification, MIDI interfaces, tablets, and other components can evolve as technology advances.
This approach also avoids dependence on the limited parts availability that often affects conventional digital pianos after only a few years.
SERVICEABILITY
A traditional acoustic piano action is familiar to qualified piano technicians.
Because our Digicoustic systems continue to use genuine piano actions whenever practical, routine regulation, repair, and maintenance can generally be performed using established piano techniques rather than manufacturer-specific procedures for molded plastic digital actions.
Unlike many factory digital pianos that rely on proprietary electronics and replacement parts, our modular approach allows many individual components to be repaired, replaced, or upgraded independently rather than replacing the entire instrument.
WILL ANYONE KNOW IT'S DIGITAL?
From across the room, most people would never know.
The original cabinet remains. In many projects, the original acoustic action remains as well. The pedals function normally, the keyboard looks traditional, and the instrument still has the presence of a fine acoustic piano.
What has changed is what happens inside the cabinet.
PRESERVE THE PIANO
A piano is often more than an instrument. It may be where children learned to play, where Christmas carols filled the room, or simply a familiar part of family life for decades.
A digital conversion preserves far more than wood and craftsmanship. It preserves the piano's place in your home while giving it a practical future that can be enjoyed by another generation.
Instead of becoming furniture—or eventually being discarded because restoration no longer makes financial sense—your piano continues doing what it was built to do: bring people together through music.
IS A DIGITAL CONVERSION RIGHT FOR EVERY PIANO?
No.
Some pianos deserve a full acoustic restoration. Others have historical or sentimental value that makes preserving them acoustically the better choice.
Likewise, not every piano cabinet is a good candidate for conversion.
Every piano and every family is different. Before recommending a conversion, we consider the instrument itself, your budget, your expectations, and how the piano will actually be used.
Sometimes the right answer is a traditional restoration. Sometimes it is a custom digital conversion. Sometimes it is neither.
Our goal is to help you make the right decision for your piano—not simply to sell a conversion.
QUESTIONS?
Every Piano Has a Story. We'd Love to Help Write Its Next Chapter.
Whether the right answer is a traditional restoration, a custom Digicoustic conversion, or another solution entirely, we'll help you choose the path that's right for your piano—not simply the one that's right for us.
If your family's piano has reached a crossroads, we'd be happy to discuss the possibilities.
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☎ (903) 791-1758