Restoration of a Steinway Duo-Art Reproducing Grand for the Schlieter Family
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73) 
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73) The sound board shim has been planed down to the surface of the board and the
entire board and bridge sides have been scraped clean of old finish. The bridge
tops require more detailed attention.
74) The bridges are being renotched. to ensure a clean tone in the new strings.
75) The sound board is being bleached. The orange color of the wood is the
color that most rebuilders leave on their sound boards. By bleaching the board, we
oxidize all of the old shellac and other contaminants that are in the wood that cause it
to go orange. When the bleaching process is complete, you will have a board that
finishes up nearly white like it did when new. The bubbles are caused by the
chemical reaction that is oxidizing the contaminants in the wood. As soon as the
bleach has had time to "do its thing" the sound board is moved under a fan that
is blowing on high. This dries the board up as quickly as possible. We don't
want this liquid sitting on the board long enough to do any harm to the glue joints or
wood structure.
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78) 
76 - 77) These pictures show the piano after it has been stained and its grain
filled. Also, a coat of sealer has been applied in order to show the final color as
closely as possible. As with any photograph, it is difficult to show the exact color
of a piece of wood but these pictures have been altered to try and match the actual color
of the piano as closely as possible.
78) The brass ferrules on the ends of the legs are so firmly attached to the legs
that it would be necessary to damage them or the legs to get them off in order to polish
them. Therefore, they are being hand polished while still in place. They will
then be taped off before the legs are sprayed. When the legs are ready to receive
their final few coats, the taped will be removed so that the ferrules will also receive an
appropriate amount of finish. The wood needs more lacquer than is attractive on the
brass, hence the use of the tape.
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81) 
79) It is very difficult to show wood repairs with a digital camera due to the level
of detail available. Here a dent on the edge of this board is being "burned
in" with a matching lacquer stick. The lacquer is melted into the void and the
cut flush and smoothed to make an invisible repair.
80) The veneer had come unglued on the edge of the lid at one point. A new
piece of veneer is being laid in place of the missing veneer.
81) The fact that you cannot see where the new veneer is on the edge of the lid in
this picture is exactly how it appears in person. The color is such that it is
impossible to tell where the new veneer is.
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84) 
82) This is an extension of the purpose explained in #76 and #77.
83) The bass bridge is being glued back onto the sound board. You will
remember, it had to be removed because a crack in the board passed underneath the bridge
apron. The bridge had to come off in order to shim the crack.
84) This shows the plate just before refinishing begins. Before the plate is
refinished the capo bar, the duplex bars on the plate and all the agraffes are reshaped to
removed all the old string marks that had worn down into them. This prevents any
chance of buzzes or other strange sounds from developing in the strings. (see #85
for the capo bar reshaping picture) Once the string termination points have been
corrected the plate is reguilded. First the plate is washed and dried. Then it
is thoroughly sanded to ensure the new finish will adhere well to the surface. Then
new layers of guilding lacquer are sprayed on. This gold lacquer is then sanded with
very fine paper and a tack cloth used to get every scrap of dust off the plate. Then
more gold is sprayed in place. Then a layer of clear is sprayed onto the plate so
that it flows out very smoothly. After this clear lacquer has dried, a tack rag is
run over the surface again just to lift any bits of dust that may have settled on the
lacquer as it set up. This dust feels bad to the touch but comes off easily with a
tack rag, leaving a very smooth finish. Finally, the embossed lettering is all
repainted and the serial numbers and style labels replaced.
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88) 
85) Reshaping the capo bar. This is the termination point for all the strings
in the top two sections of the piano. On the other side of the plate a six smaller
bars that are cast into the plate. These bars are part of the duplex system.
Any energy that is in the string that manages to leak out past the capo bar passes into a
portion of the string beyond this bar. The duplex bars are designed to allow this
extra string segment to actually ring a bit so that this escaped energy can be turned into
musical tone rather than being wasted.
86) The plate reguilding is finished.
87 - 88) The sound board restoration is complete as are the bridges. The new
bridge pins have been pounded into place and all the finish for the board and bridges has
been applied. In the case of this piano, it was decided that the use of oversized
bridge pins was the cleanest and neatest method for restoring the bridges. Since new
bridge caps were not in the plan, the bridges were redrilled to accommodate bridge pins
that were one size larger than what was originally installed. Since, in the highest
treble section, this meant that the bits of wood that lay between each pin would be a
little smaller the drilling for this section was done so that it wasn't necessary to
hammer the bridge pins in aggressively. This could have split this bridge by so
doing. As a result of this decision, a small amount of water thin cyanoacrylate
(super glue) was wicked into the bass of each pin. The capillary action of this
liquid is such that it could actually seep into the joint between the pins and the wood,
making the connection to the wood even stronger. This was done because the pins
couldn't be set to be driven in aggressively.
note: This is a good rule of thumb for how tight bridge pins need to be. I think the reader will find it amusing as well as accurate and educational, and perhaps a SLIGHT exaggeration: To test for a proper fit in a bridge pin, you place a pair of vice grips on one of the pins and clamp it down tightly. Then you pull as hard as you can. When everything lets go, you should fly half way across the work shop and land, lets say in a way that is less than dignified. The vice grips should still be in your hand but when you look at them, the pin should not be there. It should still be in the bridge. If that is how tight they are, that will be good enough.
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