Piano Refinishing

Piano Refinishing   

    Refinishing a piano brings new life to a dull, old instrument.  The piano is completely disassembled, including all cabinet parts, the keys, the internal action parts, along with the legs and bottom. If the piano is to also be restrung at this time, the tuning pins, strings and metal piano plate are also removed (see restringing process). The piano case is now just a shell.

    All individual parts are now disassembled from their hinges, leather and felt cushions and all other obstructions to refinishing. Each piece is then hand stripped and sanded to bare wood. All nicks are then filled and missing veneer is replaced with veneer of the same time period. The parts are then hand sanded one final time to check for any imperfections previously missed. * After passing inspection, the parts are then stained to the original color and air dried for 24 hours.

    The piano and parts are then sprayed with sanding sealer and hand sanded with very fine sand paper and another coat of stain is applied to give the wood a deep, rich look. Finally multiple coats of lacquer are then applied , sanding between each coat.

    All brass cabinet parts such as hinges, screws, pedals, locks, etc. are hand shined and sprayed with lacquer to keep them shining for many years. The original decal is replaced on the fallboard above the keys . All cabinet felt, rubber buttons, and cabinet leathers are replaced before final installation.

    * If the piano is to be finished in a color coat such as ebony the process changes at this step. Multiple coats of primer are applied and sanded to fill the grain in the wood. Several coats of color are then applied. After the color coats are cured, several coats of clear finish are applied and then buffed to the final finish.