If it is your own piano, by all means get in over your head. I restored a 1920s Knabe, and did some horrible things with it. It was my first shot at pinblock replacement, my first shot at dealing with a crack in a plate, my first experience of seriously damaging a keystick by my own clumsiness, my first and only (aborted) attempt at refinishing a grand piano case, my first experience of fracturing a sostenuot rod (don't ask), my first foray at adjusting plate height, a good example of what not to do when trying to determine the right target weight for a set of hammers (grinding down A0 to such an extent that there was insufficient tail area for reliable checking), my first experience of bleaching a set of ivories (and the soundboard, and the keybed), my first lesson in how not to store (strongish) hydrogen peroxide, and my first experience of having a pedal lyre fall apart in the dress rehearsal for its post-restoration inaugural performance.
I learned a lot, and the instrument is now very pleasant to play. It still needs more key dip, since the lowering of the plate rendered the boring of the hammers inappropriate (either that, or a previous technician simply bored them too long), and the sostenuto rod, though now repaired, is still sitting on my shelf. But I learned an awful lot! I did, of course, make quite a bit of extra work for the skilled refinisher who rescued me.
This piano is your proficiency playground. Get lots of good advice so you don't make more horrible mistakes that you have to, but don't be terrified of making mistakes. By all means replace that string, even if the piano is going to be restrung. There will probably be a bunch of things you'll end up doing and then redoing on this piano, but it will not be time wasted. You may well end up with something delightful.
------------------------------
Floyd Gadd
Regina SK
306-502-9103
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 11-13-2021 22:37
From: Jon Page
Subject: 1900s Knabe ampico. Did I make a poor decision?
Have a local piano technician check it out. The phrase, If you think experience is expensive, try inexperience; comes to mind
------------------------------
Regards,
Jon Page
mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
http://www.pianocapecod.com
Original Message:
Sent: 11-13-2021 22:02
From: Scott Smith
Subject: 1900s Knabe ampico. Did I make a poor decision?
I apologize if this isn't the correct place to post. I recently purchased a 6ft Knabe grand 1900s era. Pretty positive it was an ampico but no longer has the player mechanism or pull out drawer. Is that possible to even restore at this point? The piano needs quite a bit of work. I'm an aspiring technician and tuner but I'm still a little nervous to attempt servicing some aspects as I'm still pretty green. There is a missing string at C4 and I've considered replacing it but I also realize that the whole piano may need restrung. Tunings holding have been an issue.
Am I in over my head? I thought this piano was a good investment. This piano is from the golden era of piano building and Knabe was one of the top makes of the time.
------------------------------
Scott Smith
High school band director/ Church Pianist
Louisa Ky
6 066-248-5881
------------------------------