Grand Piano Restoration

Recently I was contacted by one of the educational facilities here in Vancouver with a request to restore the grand piano located in the auditorium. After inspection to determine if this instrument was a worthy project, the administration accepted my restoration proposal.

Over the next two months this instrument will be dismantled completely, then re-assembled with the new parts and components required to complete the project. 

Built in 1911 this is a 6 ft. (1.8m) grand in original condition. While the structural components of this piano are in relatively good shape, the cabinet and all of the moving parts that make up the action and keyboard and the string work are all signifigantly worn.

There will be postings to this blog several times a week with new photos of the repairs and techniques performed. Gradually over the next 10 weeks this project will be completed.

As school is now out for the summer break we will begin when the movers bring the instrument to the shop. Most likely this will be in the next couple of days.

Here is the photo set of the piano in the condition that it was found.  Lots of repairs to do!

Grand Piano Restoration

A Tuner’s Life 4 Special Projects

Well, it is not always about pianos here. Sometimes I get interesting requests to manufacture or assist with making an unusual project.

A while back a young fellow contacted me a while back seeking assistance with his project of building a shadow box.  The box was to be built with side rails to hang earrings on, but he also wanted to have a music box component to this item.

 I thought this would be an interesting and fun project to do, so I kept a record of the progress to completion.

The photos are mostly screen shots of a design program. Then there are photos of the coloring and finish. At the end there is a small video sample of the music that this unit will play. 

One more thing; my shop cat was fascinated by this project and loved the music box when it played. If you watch closely on the left side of the video she hears the music from the garden and comes into the shop to sit and watch the roller in the music box go around. You can see her coming through the doorway….

Music Box

A Tuner's Life 3 The Technische Museum, Austria

Recently one of our blog members, Bojan Babic, went to Austria and had a chance to attend the Technical Museum.

Located in the vicinity of Schönnbrunn Palace, Vienna, the music department was only one part of it. There are cars, airplanes, industrial machines, and all kind of old items there.

Bojan sent me some photos of antique keyboard instruments. I am not able to identify them all correctly. If anyone viewing these photos has any information to offer please add your comments in the comments section below this posting. 

Some very interesting things to see at this Museum.  Here is the photo set.

Technische Museum Austria

One of the photos is of the famous Janko keyboard. Some history of the Janko keyboard provided through a link from PianoWorld.

Janko Keyboard 

Hammer Shaping: The Neglected Hammer Set

The modern piano action and keyboard have some 8000 or more moving parts. This mechanism is subject to gravity and therefore wear upon regular use; without being maintained correctly at regular intervals, the geometry of the keyboard and action wear,  resulting in an instrument that does not respond to play correctly, or sound good.

Because the acoustic piano is mechanical not digital, this means that there are a lot of moving parts within the action and keyboard that have contact or friction points. These points must be checked, maintained, and lubricated on a regular basis. 

The technician will often encounter a piano where the tuning has been maintained by regular service while the mechanics of the instrument, the keyboard and action, have not been maintained, or serviced on a regular basis.  The result of this neglect is the often heard complaint that the instrument has poor touch control, and the tone of the piano leaves much to be desired.

One of the first places to reveal a neglected piano is to inspect the hammer set at the strike point. This is the area of the hammer that comes into contact with the strings of the piano and is the area of the piano hammer that is subject to the most wear.

 To improve tone and touch control, one of the first things to accomplish is to have the hammer set shaped back to the original contour when the hammer set was new.  Shaping the hammer set back to original specifications improves the way that the hammer comes into contact with the strings when the piano is played. This will improve the tone of the piano immediately.

At times this task is problematic, especially in older pianos that have suffered without regular maintenance. Many of the older tall uprights or vintage grand’s would require a new set of hammers; the cost of that restorative work is often exceeding the financial value of the instrument in question.

Here is a hammer set that is badly worn and really should be replaced. Because this is an older tall upright the choice is to shape the hammer set as the cost of a new hammer set exceeds the value of the instrument.  At the same time as the hammer shaping takes place, I also show other repairs being performed as the action is already dismantled.

First there is the rough shaping of the hammer set to remove all of the damage caused by the felt hammer head striking the metal string over years.

Following the rough shaping of the piano hammers, the entire set then must be gang shaped with a wide piece of sandpaper. When shaping hammers individually with a block sanding device, it is impossible to keep the strike line even and the same on each hammer head. Failing to gang file the hammer set will leave the strike line uneven from one hammer to the next; the result being that the tone quality will vary greatly from each hammer.

The following photos show the process of rough hammer shaping. There is a video short of the wrist technique required to perform this task.

 After rough hammer shaping there are  photos of gang filing to even out the strike point of the hammer set.

Following photo 21 there is a 5 minute video of one of the world’s top concert technicians using this technique to shape a new set of hammers.

Hammer Shaping Photo Set

Grand Piano Pin Block Support

When driving the tuning pins into a grand piano, the pin block has to be supported from the underside.  The reason for this is the way in which the pin block is manufactured. Generally speaking, the pin blocks in pianos are constructed of multiple layers of wood laminated together.  In modern construction, most pin blocks are manufactured of up to 18-20 layers laminated together with phenolic resins.  In early construction, pin blocks were 3 layers of much thicker materials over a maple plank.

In either case, while stringing procedures are completed, or when the tuning pins must be driven deeper into the pin block for increased torque ratings, the block must be supported from the underside. Without support, the bottom layers of the pin block laminations will be forced apart by the tuning pin being driven into the block from the top. Once this de-lamination occurs, the repair is to replace the pin block, which is a time consuming and costly mistake.

Below is a link for some photos of the traditional way to jack and support a pin block. Of course there are other ways to accomplish this task without the specialty machinist’s jacks; by using a series of wedge planks would be one example.

When jack supporting the pin block this puts excessive pressure on the key bed; sometimes with vintage instruments one does not know how strong the key bed is. In instruments that are older, it is also a good idea at times to support the key bed from underneath the piano to the floor. This can be done with short lumber and a small hydraulic jack.

Below is a link to a  series of photos showing the tools and supplies required for supporting the grand piano pin block.

Pin Block Support

Piano Action Repairs: Hammer Butt Shoulder Buckskin Replacement

This is one of the common repairs for an upright piano action. As the hammer head, stem, and butt assembly returns after striking the strings, the hammer butt is caught by the back check attached to the whippen assembly. The back check contacts a small stem and buckskin covered wooden plate attached to the rear of the hammer butt. 

 This creates a contact point that has considerable wear; in a piano action where the regulation is neglected, or left out of proper mechanical adjustment, the wear on this point is considerable over time. Once this small piece of buckskin is worn through the wear begins on the original, obsolete wooden parts. 

Obsolete piano action parts are difficult to obtain. At one time there were so many different piano manufacturers, it is impossible for the  piano parts makers to supply  parts with the correct geometric measurements for every make and model of piano produced. The parts suppliers have decided to make generic fit parts. These parts come close to the original and will work properly; sometimes with geometric adjustments to the parts or the action itself.

There is of course, the usual wear that happens with regular use of the piano. This is why it is so important for the older pianos to be kept in proper mechanical adjustment. This is called regulation of the piano action. When the piano action is kept is proper regulation and the felts and buckskin within the action are kept in good condition, very little damage is done to the original wooden parts.

Here is a photo album of the replacement of the hammer butt shoulder buckskin. There is text to read below each frame in the photos.

Upright Piano Action Repair