How Many Pianos Need To Be Refinished??

It was at that time that we decided that a trip to her home was advisable.  In fact, it was a new home; all be it, a new town home.  Yes, you guessed it, three stories tall.  She wanted a baby grand to go into the living room on the second floor and had already decided to go with cobalt blue.  I was excited and so was Bill.  You remember him, our refinisher.  He loves doing things out of the ordinary and unusual with pianos.  Little did he know at the time just how’ out of the ordinary’ that it would be!

Baby Grand Needs To Be Refinished Too!

Well, we had a baby grand that just suited Miss Amanda, our client who, as it turns out is a designer in her own right.  This may give you a clue as to what was really going on here.  As you can see the piano that we had at our place had been refinished many years ago and now was in need of some loving care and she was just the person to instigate it.  It would be cobalt blue and sit in a place of honor in her spectacular new home.

We moved the piano into the shop and began the process of stripping it down to the bare wood and sanding all the surfaces smooth.  Then Miss Amanda heard us describe the wood that we found underneath and she decided to come and see for herself, informing us of a new direction she was going as far as her living room furniture was concerned.  After a couple of night time visits she became convinced that the piano had a lot of potential for a very innovative look that would contribute a lot to the look of her living room.  She decided to have us bleach the wood and tone down some of the red of the mahogany by applying a pine colored stain and then just finish it without trying to match all the pieces as one would ordinarily do on a wood stained piano.

For A Piano To Be Refinished, Should All The Pieces Match?

The process was excruciating for Bill the innovator and the result was outstanding.  Bill’s biggest worry was that none of the pieces matched, but that was just what Miss Amanda wanted.  It has turned out to be one of the most interesting pianos we have refinished in a long time and we still have the old upright to do.  When it is refinished, will it be an eggplant color or something else: only time will tell!

I had a call last month, or was it January, from a pediatrician that had heard of a piano for sale by someone in her neighborhood and wanted an appraisal.  She and her husband had gone to look at it, but not knowing much about the workings inside a piano, thought it best to contact someone who could help them out.  They wanted to know if it was structurally sound and if it was worth the price the neighbor was asking.  How much would it cost to move and do whatever repairs that it might need?

Well, we went to look at this piano.  It was a baby grand by the way, and yes, it was a good brand – a Gulbransen and had good possibilities, but it was going to take a little work to get there.  When we lifted up the cover to look inside, the cat who had been curled up on the music desk artfully climbed up the cover and peered over at us to see why we were disturbing everything.  It surely did need some cleaning and a few other things as well.  But basically it was sound.

Piano Appraisal Is Certainly Worth It.

We went by our customer’s house who was thinking about purchasing this piano and I met with her and her husband and discussed options.  They had a set amount of money to be spent – and who doesn’t – and we made our decisions from there.  For one thing, this gave them an opportunity to figure the cost of repairs, and also delivery and tuning, against the asking price on the piano. We decided that the best thing was to take the piano to the shop to clean it because it was so bad and we had the equipment needed right there.  Better to work on it there than in their beautiful home.We packed it up and took it to the shop.

MOVING BABY GRAND TO THE SHOP

In the process of loading and unloading it, we heard the sound of a lot of things falling around on the inside of the piano.  Our curiosity was definitely peaked  and we couldn’t wait to see what was the cause of it.  Take a look at this box of tidbits!!  I have never seen a piano with that many different goodies tucked away in it.

CAN YOU BELIEVE ALL THIS INSIDE THE PIANO?

Well, it didn’t take us long to finish the cleaning and replace some ivories and take it back to the customer.  The biggest question then was where to put it.  I thought they would have that all figured out before we got there – but you know how we are.  Suddenly a new thought – it might look good like this, or maybe over here it would add dimension to the room.

CAREFUL PIANO MOVERS SPEND MUCH TIME FINDING JUST THE RIGHT SPOT

So we tried some places, or should I say, the movers tried some different places (they are patient guys and careful piano movers) and eventually we all agreed on this one particular spot.

I know these people were happy to have gotten an appraisal before they bought their piano because it gave them and overall picture of what to expect.

Do you need an appraisal on your piano?

 Piano is refurbished and put back together

Getting the work done on the piano was not hard.  We did put new bass strings and new hammers which really changed the sound on the piano. We also put new felts and bridle straps   We spent a lot of time regulating the action.  That might have been the most difficult part.  It really didn’t want to cooperate but eventually it was ready.

NEW HAMMERS AND BASS STRINGS

Putting it back together when it was finished was a real puzzle.  Remember, this was a player piano and it had been working fairly well when we first saw it.  So we put the player parts back in the piano, and guess what?  It didn’t do anything!  We pumped and pumped but nothing happened and certainly no sound came out!  Finally, with a little extra help we found that it was off by maybe a “millisecond” and so when we got it in place – voila! – it played.  I have to say we really enjoyed listening to a couple of rolls of old piano songs.   I surely did begin to wish it had an electric pump in it.  My legs are no longer built for that kind of action.

Refurbished Piano Returns Home

It was definitely not a hot day when we returned the piano.  As a matter of fact it was just the opposite.  It was so cold that we had to wait until the temperature rose a little before we even loaded the piano on the truck.  So off we went with a very tall, very antique refurbished piano wrapped securely in many layers of blankets and tied with piano straps standing tall on the back of our truck.  It was again a long trip but the day warmed up as we headed south and we couldn’t wait for our customer to see her “like new” piano.

The sun was high in the sky when we arrived and as we unloaded the piano and brought it inside, Abigail was bouncing around taking pictures and exclaiming how great the piano looked.  We had to help locate a spot for it and once it was in that spot we all stepped back to take a good look.  And boy did it look good, even if I do say so myself!  When you refurbish a piano, even though it is not rebuilt it definitely makes a big difference.

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!