Pianotech

  • 1.  Just for fun, Progress on "restoring" a baby grand

    Posted 06-19-2019 04:30
    Before and after pics ...I know it won't be some valuable gem , but I want it to look nice in my house (and it plays great since my tech brought the action back from the regulation+ it holds a tune very well)...

    1) Removed ugly damaged paint
    2) sanded everything down , for months and months ,
     2 b ) find more paint and random stufff ,  and get it out with little picks and hooks

    3) Stained , (which is harder than they make it look on YouTube when you're not staining a perfect flat board with no mistakes or scratches)

    4) Touch up marker - all the junk
    5)  I used about 6-8 coats of Spray Shellac for the glossy finish
    not done yet , these are the parts I finished already to test out how everything will match up / etc ...  but thanks for all the help with the ID (probably an old Brambach, so if I sell it won't be a big money maker anyway) , I'll still take pictures of the whippens next time I pull the action , my tech was in a hurry and told me to please just put it in fast to test it before he had to leave ... then I kept getting the work done on the outside appearance ... thanks again , Domenic

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    D DiCello
    Pianist
    Rockford Il

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  • 2.  RE: Just for fun, Progress on "restoring" a baby grand

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-19-2019 09:24
    Hi, Dominic

    Rockford, Illinois, my mom grew up there and I still have family there. Some very fine pianos were made in Rockford, Haddorffs. My cousin's grandfather worked in the factory.

    Anyway, I'm no expert in refinishing, but I still have to work on battered old instrument cases now and then. I favor non-toxic materials which also don't require a lot of equipment. From my very limited experience, the easiest way to get a bare wood surface stained is to buy some powdered aniline dye (one can test different assorted colors), pour some 190 proof ethanol from the liquor store (Everclear or Clear Spring) into a container -- I favor the plastic clamshells from the coop deli, washed, of course -- add a little scoop of the powdered dye, which instantly dissolves, then brush it on with a throwaway foam brush. The alcohol doesn't degrade or clog up the brush.I prefer a stain without fillers.

    I then follow up by adding shellac into the stain mixture, and apply it using French Polish techniques. The shellac I make from very fresh 190 proof ethanol kept sealed against water in the air, poured over shellac flakes in a mason jar. The mason jar allows you to keep the air out but the canning jar lids don't get seized up from the shellac the way an ordinary lid will. If well sealed, the mason jar can be heated with warm water to speed up the dissolving process. Shellac for French Polish needs to be fairly dilute, so I keep the thicker shellac in the mason jar and add it to the stain to get the desired consistency. YouTube of course has hundreds of videos about how to do French Polish, of varying quality..

    Of course this method of finishing wouldn't do for someone with a professional refinishing business, but for a home effort, one could do worse.

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    Susan Kline
    Philomath, Oregon
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  • 3.  RE: Just for fun, Progress on "restoring" a baby grand

    Posted 06-19-2019 11:32
    It's great to see instruments rescued like this

    Congratulations!

    Best wishes

    David P

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    David Pinnegar, B.Sc., A.R.C.S.
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    +44 1342 850594





  • 4.  RE: Just for fun, Progress on "restoring" a baby grand

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-20-2019 08:30
    Hi Domenic, wow! What an amazing project. I second David & Susan...love to see this! 
    Its been quite a while but I took on an old upright about 15 years ago in Mahogany (hmm...am I the only tech who can never seem to spell mahogany correctly without the spell check? Face palm..) Fortunately it wasn't as bad as this piano (and it was a very ornate upright as opposed to a grand) but I did essentially the same thing as you, except that I used Minwax dark mahogany stain, about 3 coats and then I just used wipe on poly also by Minwax. It turned out beautiful but I told myself "never again" at least for a customer. 
    Susan, regarding Aniline stains...I used this on a nice coffee table I made for my parents in high school woodworking. It was super nice! It did not show up the flaws as did other stains. I can see how this would be a big advantage on old "beat-up" and even pitted finishes. Nice. Thanks for a good post once again. 


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    [Kevin] [Fortenberry] [RPT]
    [Staff Techician]
    [Texas Tech Univ]
    [Lubbock] [TX]
    [8067783962]
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  • 5.  RE: Just for fun, Progress on "restoring" a baby grand

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-20-2019 13:27
    You're very welcome, Kevin.

    I think I sent this before, but here is a photo of the celesta case where I used the powdered aniline dye and the French Polish with shellac, with a "before" to give a hint of how it was when I met it. I never have seen such a battered instrument! Plays fine, though.

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    Susan Kline
    Philomath, Oregon
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  • 6.  RE: Just for fun, Progress on "restoring" a baby grand

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-20-2019 14:57
    Wow! What a transformation! Love it. Only thing I've need more abused is our choir room St D which was our #1 recital piano before getting a new recital piano about 6 years ago-it has a chuck of wood missing on the audience side (in the curve) of the lid about half the size of my fist... XD​

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    [Kevin] [Fortenberry] [RPT]
    [Staff Techician]
    [Texas Tech Univ]
    [Lubbock] [TX]
    [8067783962]
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  • 7.  RE: Just for fun, Progress on "restoring" a baby grand

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-20-2019 15:21
    A neat trick, splicing a piece that big into the lid, and then disguising it.

    I did, however, have some torn veneer on a corner of that celesta, and I took a piece of red oak (which is what the case is made of), cut different thicknesses of it on a Shopsmith bandsaw, and then spliced two of them in. Not perfect, but letting the finish go dark there helped to keep it from being glaring. More photos ...

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    Susan Kline
    Philomath, Oregon
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  • 8.  RE: Just for fun, Progress on "restoring" a baby grand

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-20-2019 22:56
    Nice Susan. You're like a touch-up artist. I've dabbled here & there...I was more proud of myself doing that huge polyester repair on the bass corner of that BRAND (spankin new in the South..) NEW high polished black grand the movers dropped on delivery. Whew...it was a lot of work but primarily time-consuming. It came out really pretty nice. Absolute perfection is never the goal with these kinds of repairs-by the way there is a fairly new book out on poly ester piano repairs written by one of my great long-time RPT friends in Houston, Mike Ello. 
    He's repaired a piano with a bullet right through the treble side...and so forth. Great book. I can provide info if anyone is interested. 


    Sent from my iPhone





  • 9.  RE: Just for fun, Progress on "restoring" a baby grand

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-21-2019 15:38
    I've shied away from working with polyester problems because I avoid any toxic tumes as much as I can.

    The most I end up doing for shiny black polyester pianos is to alert the homeowners that they can be cleaned up with a barely damp rag or washcloth, but they should not be rubbed with a dry cloth because the dust is an abrasive and can cloud the shine. Also that stacks of music, etc., can take off the shine, for the same reason.

    I say that they are impervious to water and alcohol, but they chip and scratch very easily, and of course anything wet needs to be strictly away from the inside of a grand. Also, they get noisy where two case parts are in contact, such as the sides and legs of benches. I take off one leg at a time, and put a very small smear of VJ lube where the surfaces contact.

    I've got to hand it to people who can deal with damage on a polyester case. Not a trivial pursuit. The celesta was possible for me to tackle  because its condition was so horrible I couldn't see any way it could end up worse. Some of the case has ended up lighter, some darker, some was already refinished by someone (probably with the Seattle Symphony) who made it very dark, and it was protected when the case was closed. I just left that part alone. I still have a very intractable problem with all the gouges taken out of the back vertical edges. Unsure just how to manage that. Shellac stick filled it and also rebuilt the right front corner which was shattered, but was opaque and not a good color match. I've thought of taking a thin layer off the whole back vertical edges, and gluing on a piece of red oak veneer, then French Polishing that. I must say this instrument has given me quite a learning opportunity. A professional would feel the need to make the whole case exactly the same, and the amount of damage, the gouges and scratches and dents, might either end up very expensive or might make finding someone willing to tackle it hard to find. Also, we all feel safer with the instrument safely in its storage box in Newport, not sent out to someone. I'm getting a lot of approval so far, and I'm not even done yet. The shiny rich color seems popular.

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    Susan Kline
    Philomath, Oregon
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