Restoration of a Knabe Victorian Grand and its transformation to a Pianomation player
piano for Don Hollingshead
136) 
137) 
138) 
136) Now the rough planing has been cleaned up by sanding.
137) I used to transfer the bridge locations onto my new boards by using marks off
the old boards. I have changed that method. Now, I finish building the sound
board with its ribs and then install the pin block, plate and sound board temporarily into
the piano; making sure they are exactly in the correct locations. Then, I lay the
bridges loosely into onto the board and use strings and measure tools to adjust the
locations of the bridges until they are exactly where I want them. Then index holes
are drilled through the bridge into the sound board. These holes receive a guide pin
which holds the bridge in the exact chosen location as it is being glued up in the press.
138) Now the bridges are both being glued to the sound board. The shape of the
press helps to ensure that the crown in the board is not only along the ribs but follows
along the long bridge as well. The long bridge was built originally with this crown
already in it. This means that between the shape of the bridge itself and the fact
it is glued up in a press which is shaped identically, the board will be very happy living
with this crown all built in as it should be. This improves tone, volume and
longevity of the board.
139) 
140) 
141) 
139) While I wait for the glue to dry on the sound board, I
went back to the piano and reinserted the pin block and the stretcher along with the
plate. I set the plate heights where I wanted them according to my original
measurements and then glued the pin block and stretcher permanently into place. The
wood stretcher which runs in front of the pin block is visible at all times to the user.
Originally, in this piano, this stretcher was not properly glued and mortised into
the case as most stretchers are. It was simply help in position with some cast iron
"butterfly" clips. To improve the fit of these parts, I glued the
stretcher down with epoxy to make it permanent. I will also be adding dowels to the
stretcher/pin block assembly that will, in effect, mortise them into the sides of the
case. This will result in a more standard installation like those used by Steinway
and other good makers which will be easier to rework in the future.
140) The bridges are now glued into place. The board will have to spend the
night in the hot box before I do anything further to it.
141) The board is pressed into place in the piano so that marks can be made
underneath to show where the glue surfaces will be. I can also take this opportunity
to check that all ribs are fully seated inside their mortises. It is not uncommon
for a rib to end up slightly off where I intended it to be; requiring me to shave a sliver
of wood off the ribs here and there to get them fully seated.
142) 
143) 
144) 
142) This shot shows the pin block glued into place.
Additional work will be needed to get this block secured. Dowels will be drilled and
driven into the block and the piano to reinforce the glue joints and to recreate the
insets at the ends of the block.
143) Taping off the areas of the sound board which will receive glue to prevent
those areas of wood from being contaminated with finish.
144) Now the board is coated with epoxy. I use a thin layer. It serves
to harden the outer surface of the board without penetrating the wood very much.
Lacquer and varnish penetrate the wood more which weighs the board down because extra
coats are required. The epoxy provides an excellent water barrier, a hard surface
which pushes the air well during play and is very light so as not to slow down the action
of the board. The tape keeps me from getting epoxy onto any areas that will later be
glued.
145) 
146) 
147) 
145) The back of the finished board.
146) The front of the finished board.
147) One final step is to lacquer the underside of the board. I will not
lacquer the top of the board until after it is glued into the piano since the gluing cauls
tend to damage lacquer but have no effect on the epoxy sealer.
148) 
149) 
150) 
148) Setting up the piano for gluing the sound board into
place. All the clamping cauls are custom cut to fit this piano and all the necessary
clamps are assembled and placed close by. Once the glue is put on the piano, I have
very little time to get the board into place, the two layers of clamping cauls arranged
and the clamps fastened down before the glue starts to set up. It is during this
moment, that I never answer telephones!
149) The sound board is now glued and clamped into place.
150) The glue up from another angle.
151) 
152) 
153) 
151) This is the sound board after the clamping cauls were removed. I like to
leave the clamps in place for at least a few days or even a week to let the glue cure to
its maximum hardness before removing them. The first thing I enjoy doing after
removing the clamping cauls is to pound the board and listen to the tone it produces.
Much can be anticipated about the pianos final tone by the way the sound board
speaks at this stage. I must admit that the sound of this board was one of the best
sounding I've ever done. I expect the final tone of this piano to be exceptional to
say the least!
152) It is now time to restore the plate. This requires some explanation:
When plate castings come out of the mold, they are quite rough and need some sort
of material to smooth them out. In the case of this unit, they used a self leveling
feathering agent which is black. When it dried, it dried to a high gloss which was
not open to chemical adhesion with the guilding that came next. The feathering agent
was well adhered to the metal but the guilding had seriously let go. The hard life
this piano has been put through has seriously accelerated the failure of the guilding.
153) In this photo, all the guilding has been removed. Much of it flaked off
with a simple light scraping. The rest was sanded away with 100 grit sand paper by
hand to prevent heat reactions in the black feathering layer. Any place where the
black feathering material was still glossy, I sanded it with 100 grit paper to make it
possible for the guilding to physically bond to the black compound.
154) 
155) 
156) 
154) During the sanding, some areas were sanding clear through to the metal and some
areas of the plate showed signs of rust having started due to damage over the years which
exposed the metal to the elements. I have primed the entire plate with a coat of
material that is specifically designed to kill rust by converting it to an inert material.
This primer is clear and is so thin that the roughing up I did is still in place
and the guilding can bond by both physical means and by chemical means as it will slightly
melt and meld with the clear primer.
155) Here, several coats of guilding have been placed on the plate. As with
the primer coat, no layer of lacquer was put down until the plate was cleaned so
thoroughly as to ensure there was not one dot of dust on it anywhere. These
preliminary coats of lacquer were then sanded with finer sand paper than was used earlier.
Then another coat of guilding was put down on the plate and sanded with 400 grit
paper to produce a silky smooth surface.
156) Now, the last coat of guilding has proven to be smooth and as perfect as
possible in all respects. The last two steps were to clean the plate again and spray
it with clear lacquer and, second, to mark the embossing and decorations on the plate as
is traditional.
157) 
158) 
159) 
157) The sound board and rim have now been relacquered. There are adequate
layers that I should be able to give it a fine wet sanding and a polishing with steel wool
to produce an attractive and smooth surface. The legs were taped off because I
prefer to spray them while they are hanging in the spray shop. In this photo, the
legs are too close to the floor to keep them dust free; hence the precaution of taping
off.
158) Here begins the very large job of installing ivory keytops. Since new
ivory was considered undesirable by both myself and the owner and I was able to put
together a complete set that fit this piano from my stock, we decided to go this route.
To the far left you will see strips of buckram. It is a "sized"
material which means that it contains a starch or a glue to render it more stiff. I
chose it mainly because of its fiber content and its weave characteristics. When I
wet it for gluing, it will lose most of its factory sizing which will be replaced by my
glue. I use animal hide glue which has been colored with titanium dioxide to make it
white. I keep it heated in a water bath in the glue pot in a seperate container to
maintain the purity of the glue. Before the ivory itself is ready to be used it must
be soaked in water for the minimum amount of time needed to soften all remaining glue
residue and any wood that is clinging to the back. The ivory's original knurling
must be reinstated before the ivory will be reliable when glued down again. Next the
ivory must be soaked in lab grade hydrogen peroxide which will whiten it to a level that
is natural for new ivory.
159) The keystops were to receive new Renner backchecks. However, upon
inspection, I found that the wire on the original backchecks was heavier than the
replacements. It was also longer and the heads were stronger. I took the time
to replace the underfelts and the leather coverings which must be stretched over the head
of the backcheck. I also rebushed these keys and repaired all else which was
presenting problems. This included reinforcing a few of the keys at the balance rail
where the thinner wood of that area was showing signs of failing. The keytops and
fronts are now ready to be given attention.
160) 
161) 
162) 
160) The fronts have a very nice arrangement. They have a cross grained slice
of wood over the end of the key which holds the white cover at the key's end. The
only problem with this is that the glue joints that hold these pieces in place have
largely failed. Therefore, all the fronts were carefully removed, cleaned up and
glued back into place. New fronts could have been made but this could have yielded
problems; trying to place new wood in such a vulnerable position. Far better to
place wood of the same vintage so you can be more confident that it will move in sync with
the rest of the key.
161) All the key tops are being sanded to remove all contaminants and to flatten the
surface. At the same time, the white fronts are sanded until they are as white as
possible and ready to be polished. The sand paper being used is wrapped around a
piece of glass to ensure a flat result.
162) Here, you see me finishing up the job of gluing the fronts back into place.
I am using a jeweler's loupe to ensure that no seams or cracks go overlooked.
163) 
164) 
165) 
163) The buckrum is glued into place using the whitened hide glue. The cloth
is oversized so that it can be trimmed to a perfect fit later.
164) The finished ivory is glued into place and is virtually unrecognizable as
anything except perfect original ivories.
165) The ebony sharps received a fresh series of black coats and a solid buffing to
ensure a smooth touch and a proper appearance. All the keys also have had their
brass capstan screws polished to a high gloss to reduce friction.