Restoration of a player piano that
is also an orchestrian for the Dahl family of McKinney Texas
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83) The bass bridge has its new cap all finished. Next to it lies the original
cap which had fallen apart long ago. The last "rebuilder" had just tried
to hold it in place with some screws. Not exactly a desirable way of repairing a
ruined bridge cap. A new cap is really the only way to go.
84) Sadly, it is difficult to show wood repairs with a digital camera. The
lack of high detail makes the repairs had to see. Here, one of the arms of the piano
had its glue let go of the veneer at one point. In the past, poor repairs had been
made and veneer was missing and filled in with soft fillers. All the garbage
previously installed and all the loose veneer was removed. A new piece of veneer was
selected so that the grain would match in closely with the original. The new piece
was glued into place and color matched to the rest of the board.
85) The bottom of the piano looked like it had been sitting near something damp for
a long time. As a result, trim pieces that were located at the bottom of each side
had lost much of their veneer. In addition, the wood underneath these trim boards
had partially rotted and the glue dissolved. As a result of this, the legs had also
come loose from the piano. In the past, the previous "rebuilder" had
reattached the legs simply by driving some drywall screws through the side of the piano
and into the legs. This was, to say the least, insufficient. The wood was all
cleaned up and restored. Then the legs were glued back into place with hide glue and
reinforced with dowels. Then the new trim pieces that you see in this picture were
made. You can see the new pieces sitting on the sound board next to the originals
that had rotted.
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86) This shows the piano on its back. The areas where the trim boards fit has
been cleaned down to new wood and is ready to have the legs and the trim boards glued into
place.
87) After all the shimming of the sound board had been completed, it became obvious
that even this great effort in shimming had simply not been enough to restore such a badly
worn out sound board. I felt it was important to give this the best try possible
first, before asking the customer to spend additional money on replacing the sound board.
Due to the way the board was constructed and due to how much moisture the piano has
been subjected to, the board had gone too far down hill. No crown was reestablished
into the board by the shimming process due to the way the ribs and skin of the board had
failed. Now that we are certain that shimming would not help to bring back crown to
the board, the customer chose to have a new sound board installed. In this picture,
you can see that the blocks of wood that help to retain the board and set the plate height
have been chiseled off of the board.
88) In this picture, the board has been driven out of the piano. Before doing
this part, index holes were drilled and marked through the sound board and into the piano.
These marks will enable the new board to be made with all the ribs and holes that
must be part of the board in exactly the same places as before.
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89) Here the sound board has been taken completely out of the piano and the treble
bridge has been removed.
90) New ribs are being made for the sound board. Each rib is cut so that the
gluing surface is arched to a 60 foot radius. This size of arch has been determined
over the last century of piano making to be the best for top quality piano tone and sound
board longevity. The original board was probably made by cutting the ribs exactly
straight and the crown (or arch) was installed by bending and moisture warping during the
gluing and installation process. My method of pre-arching the ribs and gluing the
sound board up inside an arched press will cause the wood of the sound board to be
"happier" in its crowned shape. This will make the board last much longer
since the procession of time is less able to flatten the board out.
91) This is the top window section of the orchestrion. You can see the
percussion instruments and the action working through these windows. The restoration
of the finish and hardware is complete in this picture. The coin slot has also been
polished and repaired so that it works again. It was originally solid brass plated
in nickel. Most of the nickel has come off over the years and the polished brass is
now what you see.
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92) In this picture and the next, the treble bridge is being recapped.
The areas outside of the bridge have been blacked out to hide all the "clutter"
on the bench that made it hard to focus on what was being done to the bridge. This
picture shows the bridge with the upper treble cap already in place and the lower section
with its original cap still on. The top cap was to be done anyway and had been
completed before it was decided to replace the sound board. With the decision to
replace the board, it was also decided to recap the rest of the bridge.
93) Here a solution of white vinegar and water is being used to soften all the old
glue in order to get the bridge to cap joint and bridge to sound board joint exactly clean
and free of slivers of wood or residue of hide glue.
94) Here, the bridge core is being matched to a blank of new hard maple. It
was positioned in such a way that only the tightest possible grain would be used on the
cap. Once the best position was found, the capping material was marked and cut out
on the band saw.
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95) The rough cut cap was then run through the planer to get the thickness exactly
where it needed to be for correct down bearing. This thickness was decided upon by
matching it to the original cap. With the plate in exactly the same original
position, the bridge the exact same original thickness and the crown in the board restored
to its original position, the bearing will come out exactly right. On certain very
costly pianos, and in capping situations that require hand planing to remove the original
cap, the height of the cap is set to be too thick and then planed down by hand after the
bridge is placed in the piano. The new cap is being glued onto the bridge core using
a jig in this picture. The jig will cause the newly glued up bridge to have an arch
to it that will help it to fit the new sound board exactly. The long bridge, in this
way, will act like another sound board rib and will cause the sound board to continue for
many decades to have the correct amount of crown. With the bridge pre-arched in this
way, the sound board will also have less internal stresses and will therefore resonate
better.
96) The entire bridge has now been completely recapped and the caps have been set
with new bridge pins and notches to duplicate the original exactly . The bridge is
just beginning to receive a coat of shellac in preparation for the lacquer finish it will
get in the end.
97) This picture shows the body of the piano after the sound board was removed.
There is a lip of maple that is attached to the main body of the piano on which the
sound board is glued. This lip is called the rastin. It should have an angle
to it of 1 1/2 degrees. This angle helps the sound board to retain its domed shape
(called crown.) This piano's rastin does not have this necessary shape.
Therefore, a shim of maple is to be glued to it in order to create the needed support
angle for the new sound board.
98) 
98) The plate has been reguilded. Also, the bearing points where the strings terminate onto the plate have been reshaped with a file so that the strings will move easily during tuning and so that the tone of the strings will be its best. If the termination point of the string at the plate is rough or misshapen, it can interfere with good tone. That is why this part is reshaped. It was clear upon close inspection of this bearing point that the original maker had been somewhat sloppy about getting this shaped well before putting the piano together originally. Since the piano is receiving a new pin block, sound board and bridge caps as well as new hammers, etc. It is certain that the finished tone and durability of this piano will be far superior to what it was the day it left the factory.
