Schomacker Piano Rebuild Page Three
See the bottom of this page for thumbnails of the pictures - - click on the number of each step to go directly to the picture it describes:
19) This picture shows the sound board, bridges and inner rim being hand scraped. I choose to hand scrape the inner rims of all grand pianos because it ensures that I won't get any stripper on the sound board. It is easier and less time consuming to chemically strip the inner rims but I don't feel that exposure to stripper is good for the tone of the sound board.
20) The next step shows a money saving technique which this customer opted for. I am usually able to reuse original bridges with this. After the sound board area has been dried and the wood has shrank as much as it is going to, I pull out all the original bridge pins. Then the tops of the bridges are resurfaced and the points at which the strings are terminated are renotched. After the bridges and sound board have been refinished, the bridges are lubricated and have NEW bridge pins installed. Depending on the condition of the original bridges, these new copper plated bridge pins can be either epoxied into their original holes or the holes are redrilled and oversized bridge pins are driven back into the bridges. (Much like they were when the piano was first built.) The pictures don't show the tops of the bridges very well in any of these pictures, but when the bridges are completed in this way, they are often indistinguishable from brand new bridges by all but experienced piano techs. This also ensures that the strings will not produce false beats.
*False Beats: caused by a single string creating a similar sound to that of two strings that are out of tune with each other. This is caused by many things: Mainly old piano wire, improper piano wire installation, notched bearing points on the plate, loose bridge pins and poorly shaped bridge and plate terminations.
21) This picture shows the sound board of the piano dampened. This reflects fairly accurately just how badly stained this sound board was originally. If I hadn't bleached the board, this is how it would have looked when it was delivered back to the customer. Many rebuilders don't bleach their sound boards, which means that your piano could come back from them looking like this.
22) The sound board being bleached. This is more complex a process than it may appear and often takes numerous bleaching to maximize results. I make my own bleach rather than buying any sort of paint store wood bleach. This enables me to get the best results for the situation in question.
23) This shows the piano's new pin block being drilled for the screws and tuning pins. When drilling a grand piano pin block, I mark the block carefully with it clamped to the plate then drill it on the work bench. My drill press is bolted to an adjustable assembly that is attached directly to a 4' X 8' drilling table. This enable me to adjust the angle in which the tuning pins are slanted (usually about 7 degrees) very accurately. This set-up also enables me to make sure that the tuning pin angle is canted at a perfect 90 degrees to the directing in which the strings of the piano will later be coming. Other methods of drilling don't allow for this important aspect of drilling angle. Also, this set up ensures that the drill bit goes in at the same angle with each hole and ensures that the drill press itself never moves even the slightest amount during drilling. Some rebuilders prefer to drill their pin blocks with the block already installed into the piano. Every set up that I have ever seen to do this has been such that the drill press was not held as solidly as mine does. The result is that it is possible for the press to move while a hole is drilled leaving the finished product less even than it could have been.
24) Here you see the new pin block being glued into place. The plate is temporarily in the piano and screwed to the pin block for this operation. Many manufacturers don't and did not glue their pin blocks into the case of the piano. We call these kinds of pin blocks "floaters" because they are attached only through screws. The best companies in the world (Steinway for example) glue and dowel their pin blocks into the case of the piano. This holds the plate much more solidly into the piano. Therefore, it holds the strings more solidly as well. The net result is believed to be that the vibrations of the strings are reflected back into the strings and sound board better. You can note the difference by taking your fist and pounding on the plate's tuning pin web of a piano that has a floating pin block and comparing that to pounding on the same place in a Steinway. You will note that the sound is much more solid in the Steinway and we all know the Steinway will sound better. If you contact me for a quote for replacing a pin block you will note that the cost will always be very reasonable compared to other rebuilders. Couple that with the fact that I ALWAYS rebuild pianos that originally had floating pin blocks with new blocks that are glued and doweled into the case at no extra charge, you will find that my product is much better than it seemed based just on price alone.
25) After the glue has cured, the plate is removed again and the pin block doweled into the sides and "stretcher" of the piano as seen in this photo. I use the largest dowels possible when doing this so as to better reinforce the joint.
26) The new pin block viewed from below after installation. Before gluing the block into place, I always tape off the glue joints and seal the block thoroughly. Then I rub out the finish on the block. My pin blocks receive as nice a quality finish as the cabinets of the pianos get!
27) The plate goes back in for the last time. On this job, you can see that the final resurfacing of the bridge tops hadn't been done yet. Admittedly, that was not the best solution and is not the way it gets done in the shop any more. Look at the color of the sound board and compare it to number 21 that shows the board before bleaching!!!
Pictures: Click the thumbnails to see the full sized picture. Then click the back button on your browser to return to this page.
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