Restoration of a Steck grand for the Kushell family
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1) The piano before work began.
2) The "gutting" process has begun. All the hardware has been
removed and labeled. The loose boards are now ready for stripping.
3) The old strings and tuning pins have been removed. A paper pattern is being
made for the string winder from the plate and bridges. These will allow the string
winder to make the strings exactly to fit the piano; taking into consideration every
slight variation that is unique to this piano. The scale design of this piano will
also receive modernization during the string making process in order to make the finished
tone even better than it was when it was new.
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4) The plate has been removed revealing the original stained
and decaying pin block. Index cards are being made so that the new pin block will
fit the case of the piano perfectly. Holes were drilled through the plate and into
the original block before the plate was removed. These holes are duplicated onto
these indexes off of the old pin block after the plate is out. The original pin
block is what we call a "floater." It did not attach to the body of the
piano. Rather it was simply screwed to the under side of the plate. The new
block will be glued and doweled into the piano on three sides as well as being screwed to
the plate. This is the way that Steinway makes their pin blocks. It yields a
more solid tone and a more stable tuning. It is a good deal of extra work but I
would not send a piano out of my shop without fitting the pin block in this way unless the
design of the piano forbid this high level of reconstruction.
5) The piano is now gutted and ready for the next steps.
6) A tent is placed over the piano and a heater placed under the piano. A
humidity gauge is put under the tent so that the humidity level can be adjusted to exact
specifications. The idea is to subject the piano to slightly lower humidity than it
is ever likely to encounter again in use. In this way, no further cracks are likely
to develop once the piano is back home.
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7) The damper guide rails are being prepared for rebushing.
7a) The guide rails were rebushed together with another set of rails from another
piano. During this course of rebuilding in my shop, I have six sets of these rails
to rebush since I'm rebuilding six grand pianos at the same time.
8) This picture shows a wedge which has been placed under the sound board to support
it and to increase the crown in the board during the shimming process.
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9) One of the cracks in this sound board also had the board
coming unglued from the ribs. After carefully applying fresh hide glue between the
board and the ribs, these clamps were placed on the board to press it back against the
ribs.
10) Once all the shims have been fitted to the piano, they are coated with hide glue
and then driven into place. To further assist in seating them into the board well,
clamps are placed on them until the glue has set.
11) Scraping the rim of the piano. Later, the rim will also be treated with
stripper as the rest of the piano was in order to even out the color. Scraping the
rim first enables me to limit how much stripper is used on the main body of the piano.
This helps to keep the stripper off the sound board and other areas where you don't
want stripper to be.
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12) The case of the piano is now completely stripped.
The last bits of residue will be washed away with lacquer thinner before staining begins.
13) The veneer on both cheeks of the rim were damaged. Rather than trying to
patch this veneer up, I chose to replace it completely. In this picture, the pieces
of veneer have been cut to about the needed size plus a little extra for trimming after
the veneer is glued into place. Then these pieces were treated with a coat of
shellac so that the glue would not pass through the veneer via the pores of the wood and
spoil the even look of the stain later on.
14) This shows that the spoiled veneer has been removed from the piano. Some
of it came off easily but the rest had to carefully chiseled off with a razor sharp
chisel.
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15) The pieces of veneer are now coated with aliphatic resin
glue. Both the veneer and the piano are coated with this glue. The glue is
then allowed to set until it goes clear. Then the two pieces are joined by use of
heat. Since this surface is curved, a round piece of steel is heated and then used
to roll the veneer into place. The shellac serves a second purpose at this stage.
It keeps the moisture in the glue from warping the veneer.
16) This shows the cheeks of the piano are also coated with glue.
17) This picture shows the stained color of the piano.
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18) This shows the sound board shims after the excess which
protruded above the surface of the board had been planed off.
19) This is a composite picture showing both sides of the piano after the new veneer
had been glued into place. It looks much whiter than it actually was in this photo.
Mahogany veneer is actually quite brown in appearance.
20) This composite shows both sides of the piano with the new veneer after it had
been color matched to blend in perfectly with the rest of the piano.
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21) After the staining process was completed, the entire
piano received a sealer coat of shellac. Then the process of filling the grain
began. This picture shows part of the music desk with filler on it. The filler
is allowed to set to just the right stage and then it is forced into the pores and the
excess removed. After the filler has dried, this process is repeated to ensure the
best possible filling of the pores.
22) The music desk after the excess has been removed. After the filling is
completed, all the rest of the minor damages are repaired mostly by a technique called
"burning in." This involves melting color lacquer into any dings, dents or
scratches. The lacquer that is melted in is the color of the lightest tones of the
wood. Then the darker patterns of grain are drawn in over the repairs to fool the
eye into thinking there is nothing there but undamaged wood. The effects of the
process don't show up on digital photos so I won't be posting them here. After all
repairs are made, the entire piano receives one more sealer coat of shellac. This
ensures that the lacquer will flow out very well right from the beginning of the lacquer
spraying process.
23) This shows the original pin block laying on the plate and the new pin block on
edge as it is being fitted to the plate.
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