Piano Cabinet Repairs to a Difficult Corner

Here is another common piano cabinet repair that is difficult to conquer. Often times this repair is done several times over the life of the piano.

The repair I am referring to is the music desk on the small console upright piano built in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s with the stand alone music desk.

Usually this type of design has the small brass eyelets at each end and there is a small gauge wood screw that travels through the eyelet and locates into the side thickness of the music desk between the veneer layers.

What happens during hard use or neglect is that the music desk is over-extended to the front, or too many books are loaded onto the frame, causing the screw to break away the edge of the frame. As mentioned previously, this can be a problematic repair, as this is a design flaw, or weakness in the design.

Here is a photo set of the repairs done using the car body filler, colour, and finish.  Go forward slowly in this photo set as there are two videos that will take several seconds to load properly.

BondoFillerPrepColour

There are, of course, other music desk designs that give the same problems; one of the more common ones is the repair shown to the music desk of the Heintzman grand piano presently under reconstruction in the shop. 

Another problematic music desk that comes to mind is the music desk that is a small strip of wood attached to the fall board and flips up against the fall board when closing. Usually this type is also found on upright pianos.

Grand Piano Restoration: Cabinet Repairs

 In a previous posting I showed some of the cabinet damage that had to be repaired; there was the big chip out of one of the round legs, the poorly repaired music desk, the back of the fallboard where the lock inserts, and the broken end on the side of the bench.

One of the things I like about using auto body filler is that the product dries in 30 minutes and will accept any colour. This was one of the problems with using the old plastic wood; once any colour was added over top the plastic wood went really dark.

I understand now that there are epoxy style wood fillers with colours, but I have not had a chance to try them out yet so I could not make any recommendations on those products as of yet.

Here are some photos of the repairs done to the broken leg, the music desk, and the bench side. 

Same photo set starting at photo 84

Cabinet Repairs

Latex Paint Removal from Old Lacquer Finish

 This is a good posting for any technician who works in the institutional systems; schools, churches, hospitals etc.

The staff members in these buildings move the pianos around from room to room as per the requirements of use.

Many times the piano is bumped against the wall or rubbed on the door frame of the building. The result being paint left on the old surface of the piano. 

Please note:

This photo album was made some time back with an older camera. There are two short videos within this photo album that will take a few seconds to load. If there are any problems with viewing, please let me know through direct email or through the comments section here at the bottom of each posting.

Here is a photo set and video solution to remove latex paint from an old lacquer surface.

LatexPaintRemoval

 THIS IS IMPORTANT:

The Varsol used here in this presentation I have only tried on old lacquer. With any removal product it is always best to test the product on a piece of the piano that does not show in case the product also removes the finish and colour. For example, I would not recommend using Varsol on old varnish as the varnish will melt causing further problems.

Will it work on old Shellac? Possibly it might; try applying some on the side of the check that does not show beyond the fall board to see if the finish melts. If the finish does indeed melt then stop and find another product that is not so invasive.

Grand Piano Restoration: Cabinet Repair Supplies

With any refinishing of wood work there are always surprises lurking underneath the darker colours; usually in the form of damage, previously repaired damage, or poorly repaired damage that must be dealt with.

I use Mohawk Finishing Supplies and their products for the most part; Mohawk has everything I need to repair and finish a piano along with years of experience in the products and the use of them. 

The owner of the Mohawk franchise here in Vancouver, has regular presentations and workshops one can attend here to learn the proper use and applications of their products.

Of course these products can be purchased from any of the furniture refinishing supply houses.

Here is a photo album of some of the most common repairs supplies required to make the piano look like new once again.

Piano Cabinet Repair Supplies

Grand Piano Restoration: Finish Removal

One can purchase the consumer products from the hardware store to complete small refinishing jobs. However, because of safety regulations, these products have a low concentration of active ingredient to remove the old finish; using them is time- consuming with variable results.

Stripping woodwork of the old furniture finish is to be done quickly. When refinishing a piano, there is more than 40 square feet of material that has to be refinished; some of the boards have both sides with finish on them. It is best then, to purchase the finish remover with the highest concentration of Dichloromethane. This product will move into the outer coats of finish and rip them up quickly.

Use a stripping agent that is a gelled stripper instead of a liquid. Also make sure that the stripper used is water soluble. This allows one to wash the boards down with water to neutralize and remove the stripper along with any excess of old finish. The water will also open up the grain and coarse steel wool or those green scrubby pads can be used to remove the tough bits.

In addition, for safety concerns, is the fact that one has a hose nearby in case of accidental contamination to the eyes, hands, or other areas of the body, or an accidental spill of the chemicals.

Remember to stay away from the chemicals while they work. Dichloromethane is a known carcinogen so one does not want to stand around breathing the fumes continuously.  Wipe the stripper on with a brush and leave the boards for a minimum 10 minutes, then using the hose, wash the stripper off. I use the end of my shop driveway for washing the board down as the hard surface allows the water to wash away and leaves the old finish that I can scoop up and place in the garbage.

I do the majority of my stripping outside, so there is plenty of fresh air available. Use a breathing mask, gloves, and eye protection for this task.

Here are some photos of the boards with the finish removed, some of the previous damage found underneath, and samples of the different woods used to make the cabinet in a piano. 
The different woods used have varying base colours and grains; this is why one must learn the art of colour tinting in order to make all of the wood the same colour. Please begin at photo # 84 in the link provided below.

Same photo set starting at photo 84.

Finish Removal

Grand Piano Restoration: Lacquer Curing

After the tuning pin holes have been re-sized the restoration project in this area will be dormant for about two weeks.

When lacquer is sprayed it must be given time to “cure” properly. The reasons for this are two-fold but both reasons are connected to one another: 

One:

Spraying furniture finish through a spray gun requires the mixture to have the consistency of water. This means that the mixture has a high concentration of solvent to allow the proper flow through the spray equipment. After spraying, the product must be allowed to “gas-off” which means that the solvent evaporates out of the finished product.

Two:

While the gas-off process is on-going, the lacquer applied to the surface shrinks because of the solvent loss; at the same time, the catalyst in the lacquer hardens and stiffens the lacquer to its characteristic hard shell, or tortoise shell. The following day after spraying, the lacquer feels hard to the touch, this is only the outside surface to a certain extent; the lacquer underneath is still swimming. 

Because of this I am unable to tape off sections of the plate in order to re-string.  The lacquer is not fully cured; when attempting to remove the tape after stringing, often times this will rip off the plate gilding, causing problems.

Waiting for this process to complete allows us to move over and continue on with another area of the project; we will begin the refinishing process of the cabinet this week.

Grand Piano Restoration: Sounding Board Finish & Plate Gilding.

Instruments located and used in an education facility tend to get quite dirty; it is impossible for the laymen that use the equipment to have the proper tools for cleaning underneath the strings. The result is that the sounding board area underneath the strings has several layers of dust. Dust and dirt attract and hold moisture, which in turn causes deterioration of the finished surface of the sounding board.

The iron plate must be lifted out for cleaning and refinishing of the sounding board, along with replacement of the sounding board decal. 

Often times the colour of the sounding board has deteriorated and the wood looks somewhat lifeless. To brighten up the look and make the wood look like new, one has to have knowledge of the colour spectrum, and which colour stains to add to the clear coat lacquer.

Once the finish on the sounding board is complete I place the plate directly over top of where it locates inside the casework. This way I can gild the plate with gold powder, and then drop the plate right into position.

The gilding powder comes from Belgium, and is mixed in with clear lacquer to create the metallic flake gold finish. Modern equipment allows us now to shoot the gold powder through a spray gun eliminating the need to apply the gilding powder in the old way. I use the gilding powder and create my own mix rather than purchase the aerosol cans already mixed up. This allows me to add colour tint to the mix so that I am able to match the original gilding colour, as the gold colour is varied at times. 

Of course there are possible sounding board repairs at times, which must be completed previous to doing any finishing. With the sounding board on the Heintzman there are no repairs and the board shows measurable crown and downbearing.

 Also there is the prep to the iron plate; cleaning sanding and filling any chips or gaps.

Below at the link provided are series of photos on how I do the sounding board refinish and the plate re-gilding.

Same photo set starting at photo 77.

Sound Baord Finish and Plate Gilding