Restoration of a Steck grand for the Kushell family
24) 
25) 
25a) 
24) Another picture of the new pin block once it has been
given an excellent wood to metal fit to the plate. Before proceeding onward, I make
sure that the wood of the pin block has solid contact with the plate over the entire lip
with no gaps anywhere. Then the tiny bits of wood which still don't touch the plate
are dealt with.
25) Tiny voids are still left in the plate lip to pin block edge joint after the
block has been fitted to the plate. These voids can easily be ignored since the
contact is excellent anyway. But in order to bring this contact up to a complete
100%, a thin layer of epoxy is placed on the surface of the pin block and then the block
is placed against the plate and clamped into position. A thin plastic wrap barrier
is used to prevent the block from becoming glued to the plate. Once the epoxy sets
up, the result is a fit to the plate that is more perfect than can be accomplished any
other way. It is only a slight improvement over the well done wood to metal fit but
it makes me feel better to know that it isn't just excellent, it is perfect. Enough
clamping pressure is used when this is done to ensure that all the original points of
contact of wood to metal remain simply wood to metal as before with no epoxy. The
epoxy is simply squeezed into the tiny low spots.
25a) On this round of restoration projects in the shop, I am restoring six pianos at
the same time. It is easier for me to maintain the highest quality and at the same
time produce the fastest possible production by lacquering the parts of these pianos in
groups based upon the type of part as opposed to lacquering groups of boards based upon
which piano they came out of. In this "installment" I'm spraying the legs
and pedals. After the lacquer had been layered to a total thickness of .005"
and allowed to dry enough to sand, it was sanded until all the spraying marks and grain
was sanded completely away. Then the boards were cleaned well and another mil of
lacquer was added to flow out the 220 grit sanding marks. The condition of the
surface of these parts after this final top coat of lacquer was such that they will rub
out very quickly since the surfaces are nearly flawless.
25b) 
26) 
27) 
25b) The same again but on this "round" I am
spraying music desks, key slips and a few other similarly shaped boards.
26) Polishing the key pins and replacing some of the felt on the key frame.
27) Rebushing the keys. The key buttons are badly stained with something which
was spilt into the piano. The customer suggested it was probably Jim Beam. Not
unlikely since it only stained rather than damaging anything. The way I make my new
bushings, this wood needs to be relatively clean.
28) 
29) 
30) 
28) The stains have been cleaned away and the new bushings
are nicely in place.
29) Gluing the pin block into place. Because of the way my clamps are made, no
harm is done to the finish by clamping in this way. Cushions are built right into
the clamps. Note the plate is not refinished yet. This can wait until all is
ready for the plate to go in for the last time.
30) Bleaching the sound board.
31) 
32) 
33) 
31) The refinished plate.
32) The piano is back together and ready for strings!
33) Preparing to restore the action rails and let off rail in preparation for
installing a new action.
34) 
35) 
36) 
34) The restored action rails.
35) The case is reassembled. All work is done except the installation of the
new action. This will soon commence as soon as the action parts can be order.
36) Regulating the action. The keytops have been replaced, the ebonies
resurfaced, the keys rebushed and the entire action stack (shanks and flanges; whippens;
hammers) have been replaced. The shanks and flanges and whippens are Renner parts
while the hammers are Isaac Cadenzas.
37) 
38) 
39) 
37) The bridge of wood connecting the pedals to the legs was
missing. However, on this type of piano there was no doubt that one used to be
there. So a new one was constructed as pictured here.
38) The owner poses with his instrument set up in his home in Minneapolis.
39) Another angle of the restored piano in its new home.
© Copyright 2010 {David Rodgers' Piano Rebuilding}. All Rights Reserved.