Now why can’t someone do “piano restoration“  for me?  My joints don’t operate the way they should anymore and sometimes even squeak or pop when I move.  Certainly my tone quality doesn’t sound beautiful the way it once did and as a matter of fact I’m not really sure – can I even carry a tune?

Now that is just what was wrong with this piano when we got it.  Its owner complained of a very dull sound in its bass section and for sure there were a lot of other extra noises that no one wanted to hear.  As mentioned in a previous writing the piano case didn’t look too bad but definitely needed improvement.  So it looked like piano restoration could be in the cards.  The question that lay on the table: was there anything that could be done about it?  We had assured her that there was and so that was the job that we set about doing.

Piano Restoration Began First On The Outside

Besides that, it had a broken pedal and the outside looked rather pitiful.  In this case the first thing we did was to “spiff” up the outside so that the piano would look warm and inviting.  We did not have to completely refinish it since someone had already done that about 20 years ago, but did some sanding, filling, gluing and spraying and in the end it looks much better than it did.

Then The Inside

Then we got to work on improving the tone.    To do that we replaced all the bass strings in the piano and changed out all the hammers.  This way the piano will have a deeper richer tone.To replace piano hammers is not a simple thing.

Piano Hammers Being Replaced by Georgia Piano Rebuilders

The hammers on the bass end of the piano are at a certain angle.  Beginning in the treble they have a different angle and the angle changes as you work your way up the piano.  Therefore, the safest way to be sure that the new hammers go on at the proper angles is to remove and replace every other one.  If you look at the picture you can see exactly what I mean.  This ensures that the new hammers go on at the same angle as the old.

The other thing that we changed to improve the sound was the bass strings.  These were removed, strung together on a wire and sent off to be reproduced so they would be exactly the same size as the old ones.  When the new ones came back and we put them on we had to use tuning pins that were 2 sizes bigger than the ones that were originally in there.  The reason for that is that once you back out the original pins the holes are now large than they were and so the pins need to be larger as well.  That way they will have enough torque when it is time to tune the piano.

Piano restoration is something that requires a good bit of time, a lot of patience, and a willingness to do all the work that it takes to get the job done.

Even though the piano restoration was not finished it was good to see some progress.  In all the years of working on pianos I always enjoy the same sense of satisfaction when the job is finished.  It is so exciting to see a piano come to life and bring with it a feeling of renewal and hope.  Sometimes it is the hope of learning to play once again, sometimes the joy of watching children learn their lessons and progress to being competent piano players.  All in all, the experience of piano restoration is enough to make life worthwhile!

Piano Hammers and Base Strings Replaced!

I received a call the other day from a local pediatrician who needed a little piano repair for an old upright that had been in their home for many years.  It seems that the youngest son, now a teenager, had recently shown not only some interest but a little talent as well.  The problem was that the piano could not be used in the condition that it was in.  It definitely needed some piano repairs.  A lot of the keys were sticking, a couple of the white keys were chipped on the ends and of course it hadn’t been tuned for years!  Would we please come and look at it?

The following day we went by to evaluate the piano and were greeted by the husband.   It turned out to be a great piano called a Conover, made by the Cable Co. back in 1909.  Now, you’re right, it was definitely very old.  But let me tell you, this piano had a sound like some grand pianos would be happy to have……out of tune or not!  All we had to do was diagnose the problem and get it up and running again.

Aha!  Much Of The Piano Repair Already Done?

We took it apart and saw that – lucky for the customer – the piano had already had quite a bit of work

OLD UPRIGHT NEEDS HELP!

done on it at some time in the past.  It had new damper felt, the hammers had been filed and it had new bridle straps.  In the process I soon came to realize that this man was an engineer either by degree or at least by nature.  How could I tell you might ask?  That’s easy!  He practically had his head in the piano and was ready to do all the work himself if necessary!  I can’t guess at other occupations by sight but I sure can tell an engineer when I see one near a piano with the insides showing.

What we did find was that several of the actual keys were broken along with some other minor problems.  Plus we found the reason for the sticky keys: moisture had sneaked its way into the piano over time and it needed some of its joints lubricated and some pins changed to get the old fellow moving again.  Piano repairs were definitely in order.

PIANO ACTION READY TO GO TO SHOP!

Piano Repair Makes This Piano As Good As New!

A few days later we returned to our customer’s house with the action and replaced it in the piano.  As you can see in the video, I was so busy taking a video of the “people action” I was unavailable for help when needed and so our trusted engineer took over.  Everyone got into the act and took lots of pictures. Even a video! – Look below.

My, we have had a busy fall trying to wrap up the “white” piano restoration and get it delivered along with moving pianos all over the Southeast; but it is time to get busy and finish the work on the player piano brought in last summer.  In reality we began this work back in September and whenever we had a “spare” moment Bill was working at making progress on the piano.

Doll & Sons "Before"

This piano was in need of some work that was quite different from the white piano.  To start with it was in fairly good condition.  It had been refinished by someone a few years back and the piano works were doing quite well also.  The problem was that it had been a long time since the refinishing had been done and so now it was not looking too spiffy and it needed to be spruced up.

The other challenge was that our customer loved the piano dearly because it had belonged to her grandmother but she didn’t love the sound that it made.  It was rather weak and thin in the bass instead of rich and full.  Here is where we needed to focus our attention.  It would not receive a full rebuild but instead the piano restoration would focus on enriching the tone in the bass by replacing all of the piano hammers and the bass strings.

Checking out the player part of the piano

Remember that this piano was a player piano made by Doll & Sons and as far as we could tell when we looked at it in our customer’s house, it was still working.  I say “as far as we could tell”  because when we pumped on the pedals the notes were going up and down but there was no sound coming out of them.

But, the first thing we did after we brought the piano into the shop was to look and find out why there was no sound coming out of the player parts of this huge upright piano.  After much ado we found the way to turn on the sound but once it began to play we realized that yes, the notes were going up and down but alas, not all of them.  This was noticeable because we could hear the tune it was playing and could tell which notes were missing.  Fortunately our customer is more interested in getting the piano to sound better when SHE plays it and will worry about what to do with the player later.

Player Parts In Front Of Piano Action

The next step was to go ahead and remove the whole player mechanism because on player pianos these parts are all placed in front of the piano strings and mechanism.  You can see the problem this would cause in trying to work on the piano without my going into an in-depth description.

More Player Parts In The Bottom Of The Piano

So we took the player parts out and set them gently to one side.

Piano Restoration Begins With Taking The Piano Apart

After that we took out the action and all the bass strings.  We tied the strings up and took them to UPS to ship them off to be duplicated.  This is the comical part of the story.  I wish you could have seen the look on the face of the gal at UPS.  Think of it!  How to fit this bundle of long wound piano strings in a box so they wouldn’t come undone and hurt someone on the way to the string company.  It took her awhile but she did it and off they went!  This was only the very beginning of the piano restoration and I have already filled up one page!

It had to be the hottest day of the summer just passed!  The weatherman had promised that we would see temperatures reaching above the middle nineties with a heat index guaranteed to be over 100.  Even so, we got up before dawn, loaded the truck with our moving equipment and headed out of town by 6:35am.

We were excited.  Our interest had been piqued by a call from a woman in South Georgia who had just inherited her grandmothers old upright player piano.  The player part was working fine but she was unhappy with the tone of the piano and some of the notes weren’t working.

And Miles To Go……………

We were on our way to see what we could see and make some decisions with her.  By the time we arrived six hours later, the temperature was definitely a lot warmer than when we left – about 96 in the shade.  I think I saw it sizzling off the road!

Georgia Piano Rebuilders Brings Solutions

Getting Ready to Move

We took a close look at the piano and talked with our prospective customer to find out exactly what was bothering her about her piano and then proceeded to examine it to find out what was causing the trouble.  We discussed everything and clarified all of her questions and then waited for her to decide what she wanted Georgia Piano Rebuilders to do.

A decision wasn’t long in coming and after a thorough discussion of how long it would take and what to expect, we loaded the piano on the truck and headed for the shop.  It was beautiful country down there, even with the heat, but our work lie to the north in a suburb of Atlanta.  Does your piano need Georgia Piano Rebuilders to help it too ?

White Piano Now Refinished in

Old Finish

Exquisite Satin Mahogany

Many weeks have passed since we brought that ugly, old white piano into the shop to be refinished and many hours of loving labor have gone into it.  It really is easy for us to be able to see in our professional minds how an old, not so pretty piano is going to look when it is refinished.  On the other hand I’m not sure other people have those same eyes.  Over the years it seems that so many times our customers have their doubts about how

New Gorgeous Wood Finish

wonderful their  piano will look when finished and I  have to convince them that it will turn out beautifully if they will just let us get our hands on it.   In this case though, the case of the white piano, I could see that our customer knew it would not only be better than it was, but that it would be far superior to most other pianos when it was refinished.  The reason was not because it had exotic carving but because the WOOD itself was so beautiful!!

A Refinished Piano Needs a Place Of Honor

The delivery itself was so much fun.

The family was all there and

Coming Home!

waiting with baited breath.

(They had not visited the piano in the shop after it was refinished but were waiting to see it after it arrived at their home.)  We were invited to back the truck up to the door to bypass the steps, and once we had the ramp in position we unwrapped the piano – and there it was!!  In all its glory!!  The family was oohing and ahhing while the guys put the piano on the dolly and began to move it inside.  (That was the beginning of the fun part!!)  With no trouble at all the movers brought it on inside and placed it exactly in position for all visitors to see upon entering the front door.  A place of honor indeed!

These people were so appreciative of the change in their piano.  And so happy to see that they were right about how it would look!  We, too, are happy for them because we could see how much they will enjoy this piano for many years to come.  Don’t forget we hadn’t just refinished the piano but also made the inside playable again with new felts and key tops-plus we resurfaced the hammers.  Now the children could take lessons if they wished and friends who stopped by could take a turn on the piano.  Who knows, maybe Mom or Dad might take up the piano.  It’s never too late to learn!  We made plans for the piano tuner to come by the next day and then we left, exhausted but on top of the world.  If you have a piano that needs to be refinished, don’t hesitate to believe that you really can see a vision of how it will look in the future.  Didn’t we just see a white piano refinished into a beautiful, glowing satin wood finish?

At Home In A Place Of Honor

Piano Movers, It is a Great Life!

I mean it!  Who else gets to work and make new friends at the same time?  Who else gets to travel and have fun while they work?  Not too many I would guess!  Saturday was a good example!

I had a call from a young lady wanting to move her baby grand piano back to her Mother’s house in Anderson, South Carolina so that they could make room for her husbands’ brother to come and live with them.  They already had a 3 bedroom house what with Mom, Dad and the three little girls.  But they would make their family room into one more bedroom to help out his brother.

Because of the expense of shipping a piano so far we had told them that if they wanted to save some money the husband could help on the move.  And so our adventure began……

We arrived early on Sat. morning.  That is Bill (my head mover) and myself, who was the driver.  Bill and Shaun (her husband) took the baby grand apart and loaded it onto the truck.  In the meantime his wife and I got to know each other.  When I found out that because of the move Shaun was going to be late for a family birthday party I offered to drop him off at the party after we got back.

Anyway, we soon had the piano tied on securely and Shaun climbed into the back of the cab and the piano movers were on their way.  Well, almost.  At my insistence we stopped off at the local QT and tanked ourselves up on coffee and donuts for the long trip.  We had a great time chatting all the way to Anderson – although I must admit Bill did doze off there for awhile.  The sun coming in the window got to him I’m afraid.

Piano Movers Do Their Thing And More

We arrived in Anderson and along with unloading and setting up the piano in just the right spot in the living room, we met and enjoyed her parents.  We had some really great laughs and then it was time for the piano movers to leave.  I’m afraid I was a little manipulative at this point and asked Shaun if it was alright to take the time to stop to get something to eat.  Unknown to all I had looked up some great restaurants in Anderson the night before and I was dying to try one.  Her Dad was gracious enough to lead us to within a couple of miles of one of the restaurants and we were on our way there.

Eatin’ Time!

Boy, am I glad we stopped.  We ate at The Main Street Deli and had brunch.  The others had brisket on toast and I had crab cakes with a poached egg and creole sauce on top.  We all enjoyed cheese hash browns, southern style grits and these little baby muffins with apple butter on them.  Yum!!  There is nothing in particular to do in Anderson, but their restored downtown area has some fine restaurants.  (Please, someone call me with a piano to move either to or from South Carolina!)

What a great time talking with Shaun (a Marine) on the way back.  We all learned so much about each other and he almost felt like a member of my family by the time we got back. We arrived back at our shop without incident, unloaded, and then I dropped Shaun off at the children’s party over in Alpharetta.  On top of everything else, his wife came out and we “gabbed” a while longer with each other standing there in the driveway.

I know this doesn’t sound like the typical piano movers to you, but who wants to be!!!!!

1. Without it your piano will lose it’s value
2. You must have it tuned every six months to maintain pitch
3. Prevention of moth, mildew, or mites infestation
4. To maintain the fluidity of the action
5. It extends the life of the piano
6. What if your piano needed felts and you didn’t know it?
7. It will enhance the students performance and achieve better exam results

Piano felts and straps

 Piano Service Is The Most Important Thing You Can Do For Your Piano

Our purpose here is to promote awareness of the pitfalls of going without piano service for any length of time and what it could mean to you and your piano.

I can only remember the piano tuner coming to our house once in all my growing up years.  The consequence of that decision was that even though I had taken lessons for 5 years, I could never play the piano without making at least one mistake, if not more.  For that reason I made a decision not to follow a musical career.  My thought was: “How could I play professionally if I always

tuning hammer and mutes

made a mistake somewhere in the music?”  It wasn’t until much later, when I married a piano tuner, that I found out the reason I made mistakes was because we never had the piano serviced.  A good piano action works smoothly; ours never did.

It wasn’t a great piano nor was it a highly recognizable name brand, but it still needed a professional to take care of it.  That would have made a mediocre piano better.  How sad that I made a career choice not to follow my dreams just because we didn’t have piano service on my practice piano.

Some of you own old vintage pianos, some may have a brand new Steinway; others have a piano handed down from Grandma and still  others have an inexpensive student piano for the kids.  What needs to be done with any of these pianos?  The answer is the same for all of them.  They need piano service.

First of all they need piano tuning.  Your piano should be tuned twice a year when the seasons change.  At the least it should be tuned once a year.  If you let it go longer than that it becomes unstable, but more than that it will cost you a lot more since by then it will probably be below pitch as well.  Second of all you want someone to oversee your piano so that nothing drastic happens to it as time goes by.  As mentioned earlier in this post, many things can happen on the inside of your piano of which you are not aware.   It may have the appearance of a fine piece of furniture but in reality it is a very complex musical instrument!

Good Piano Service Is Hard To Find

The third topic here is how to find a good piano service technician.  One way that is presented to people is to suggest that the person be authorized by the Piano Technicians Guild.  While on the one hand this is logical, I have known many who are certified yet lack total common sense when it comes to servicing your particular piano.  Do you have the thousands needed to restore it to “good health”?  Should you throw away Grandma’s piano because it is old and someone doesn’t have the patience to work on it or the understanding that it will break your heart?

Do you have any idea how many great piano tuners/technicians that are available but have never taken the test because they tune by ear and the test is evaluated by an electronic device?  Just in my city alone there are several tuners that are sought after by many and have a following of hundreds of satisfied customers.

Check with your neighbors, your piano teacher, and on the internet be sure to look for references and good work done.  Choose carefully and you will be a happy camper.  Choose the piano service technician carefully to watch over YOUR piano!

The Ugly Duckling

Lots of work has been done since last you heard from us and the piano refinisher has been busy.  That old white piano does not look the same.  It is like a rebirth.   First the piano was stripped and then all the loose veneer was clamped as you saw in a previous blog.  Next, all the scratches and digs were filled and smoothed out.  Following that, our customer made a visit to Georgia Piano

Rebuilders and chose the color for the stain.

After the piano refinisher – you remember Bill – puts multiple layers of sanding sealer on the stained piano, with sanding in between each coat, then the top coat goes on.  Some call it the hard coat because it dries to a much harder finish than the sanding sealer.  It also makes for much better protection for the piano.  In the picture you can see all the beautiful wood that was underneath that ugly paint.

The Tilted Piano

All the insides were removed and what was left was covered with newspaper to protect it from the spray.  There is no comparison between the old and the new!  Just look at it.

The Piano Refinisher Does Custom Work

We are a small restoration shop that does custom work for our customers.  In this instance, we waited for the owner of this piano to find a piano bench to go with the piano.  Actually she found an antique stool and brought it to the shop for us to match it to the piano.  It will be a great addition to this piano and you will see it here soon.  The Piano Refinisher would be happy to do the same for you.

sample cake

Two weeks ago I had a call from a potential customer asking about piano moving and piano tuning.  We set up the time to move her piano from Duluth to Cumming.  Right when the men were putting the piano up on the truck I saw her give the piano seller a plate of beautiful cupcakes.  That’s how I found out she was in the custom cake business.  And boy!  Did those cupcakes look good!

Well anyway, we delivered the piano to her house and she and her husband thanked us and waved good bye.  Honestly, I don’t know what gave Bill (mover, refinisher) the idea but somehow he saw her give me some cupcakes and I guess his mouth was watering all the way back to the shop.  When he found out I had none, he pouted all the rest of the day.  If you love cake as much as we do, here is her website:  sweetstartts.com

Don’t Forget My Piano Tuning

The last thing my customer had said to me before we left her house was “Don’t forget my piano tuning.”  We have a tuner with over thirty years experience who has worked with us for twenty years of that time.  He has tuned for concerts, churches, Symphony Orchestra Choral members and many other people in the Metro Atlanta Community.  He tunes by ear and can tune the finest Steinway or the oldest upright and make them both sound beautiful.  So, I had Jim (that’s his name) call her and set up a time to come out and do her piano tuning.

Look for quality

You know, piano tuning is an art limited to those who have the talent needed to set them apart in a field where only a few truly qualify.  Always be sure that you look for quality and not price.  Remember, if you do your piano tuning on a regular schedule it will hold its’ value better and will last longer, play better, and sound better than you ever thought possible.

Piano Tuning Tools

The Benefits

of

Piano Tuning

I am sure you have already realized that having your piano in tune will bring you much more enjoyment when you play, but did you know that it will also help to train your ear?  Another reason for tuning is that it extends the life of your piano, not to mention it keeps the piano from undergoing undue stress on the soundboard.  Finally, regular piano tuning helps maintain the value of your piano.

Piano restoration is not something that can be done in a hurry.  You saw that we picked up the white piano back in August and here it is the middle of September and we’re still working on it.  There is a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Prep Work

Not to say we haven’t accomplished a lot.  We took it apart, took the action out, and took all the keys out of it.  Then we stripped it.  Now that’s where the time went!  Have you ever stripped a piece of furniture?  When you took it apart, how many pieces were there?  Nowhere near the number of pieces that a piano has I can guarantee that.  Plus in piano restoration there’s that huge case.  But, it is stripped.

"Clamps everywhere"

The next step was to glue all the loose veneer back in place and fill all the little digs and chips.  There were clamps everywhere.  At least we didn’t have to replace any of the veneer.  It’s a good thing because I don’t know if we have any that would match the absolutely, beautiful wood that this piano is showing us.  We were right.  It is the most beautiful wood that we have ever worked on. And then we sanded, and sanded, and sanded.  It is now so smooth it feels like there is already a finish coat on it.

We Begin the Satisfying Part of the Piano Restoration

Speaking of finish coats, there are now two coats of finish on the parts and tomorrow Bill will spray two coats onto the case.  My, My, My.  That is going to be one beautiful upright piano.  Oh. Did I already say beautiful?  Well, that’s the honest truth!  It’s not finished yet but when this piano restoration is done you won’t be able to tell it is the same piano that came through those doors last month.  Does your piano need some restoration?