Our Services

Refinishing a Chickering Grand

The project described below was completed on a 1918 Chickering 5'5" grand piano. This was a fairly complete restoration, involving replacement of the pinblock and restringing the piano, in addition to complete reconditioning of the the piano and damper actions, so we were able to access all parts of the piano. Our evaluation of the existing wood surfaces and finish indicated many areas of damage and also the presence of a variety of finishes from previous applications. Stripping, repairing, and refinishing the veneer and other wood surfaces on this piano is a time-consuming process. However, the owner had a strong attraction to this piano--she "grew up with it"--and she wanted to invest the funds needed for this major project.  The outcome was a musical instrument that looks and plays like new.

1918 Chickering Grand 5'5"
Pictures of the Evaluation, Repair, & Refinishing Process
taken in our shop

1 – We removed the legs and placed the piano on our Grand Transporter for easy moving around our shop.

2 – We completely dismantled the piano, removing the legs, lyre, lid, music rest, and other wood parts. We also removed all screws and hinges, numbering them for later reference, and we removed the strings and pins.

3 – After removing the plate bolts, we lifted the plate out of the piano, using our ceiling-mounted winch.

4 – Using scrapers, chisels, dremel tools, sandpaper, and a power sander, we removed all the old finish from the soundboard, bridges, and soundboard moulding.

5 – Using a special Dremel wire brush we cleaned the bridge pins and removed graphite and previous finish from the bridges. We cleaned and polished the metal plate posts using a larger power wire brush.

6 – We applied a thick coat of liquid graphite to the bridge surfaces between the bridge pins.

7 – We stripped the inside of the piano rim and scraped the soundboard mouldings.

8 – We felt the soundboard mouldings would look better if refinished with clear sealer and urethane--same as the soundboard--so we masked them off for later attention.

9 – With the case standing upright on a soft styrofoam pad and newspapers, we stripped the exterior surfaces.

10 – Many coats of previous finishes made the stripping process difficult to complete. Finally, after three applications of stripper, the grain pattern began to emerge on the mahogany veneer.

11 – We sanded and repaired the wood surfaces of the piano case.

12 – After wood preparation, we applied a thick coat of walnut-colored grain filler on the mahogany veneer and brown mahogany-colored stain on the solid wood surfaces, then rubbed out the residue with burlap. The result was a smooth, even-colored surface.

13 – After the grain filler and stain had 24 hours of drying time, we brushed on a coat of sealer. Note that the actual color of the surface more closely resembles the color shown in picture #12.

14 – From a decals supplier, we ordered a new fallboard decal matching the design of the original.

15 – We applied two coats of clear lacquer over the sealer. Then we hand-sanded the interior of the case and applied a final coat of lacquer. We will apply the final coat of lacquer to the exterior of the case later in the process, after the piano has been restrung.

16 – We removed the masking tape and plastic from the soundboard, bridges, and keybed.

17 – We applied two coats of sealer to the soundboard and sides of the bridges, followed by hand-sanding and two coats of satin spar urethane. The case is now ready for installation of the plate after it is refinished and a new pinblock has been installed.

18 – We dismantled all the piano's components, removing all metal parts and screws.

19 – We stripped the old finish from all parts with wood surfaces. On most surfaces, this involved applying stripper three times because of the many layers of earlier finish.

20 – After sanding all wood surfaces and repairing damaged areas, we experimented with stain colors and grain fillers to preserve the beautiful mahogany grain of the veneered surfaces as well as make the most of the non-veneered solid woods. For example, the piano lid and fallboard have veneered surfaces but the lyre is made of solid maple. Our solution in this case was to apply walnut-colored grain-filler on the veneered surfaces and brown mahogany paste stain on the solid surfaces.

21 – Pictures 21 to 25 show in detail our wood-preparation process for the legs of this grand piano. We stripped off the old finish, using three applications of stripper. To ensure that old finish would drop to the table, we installed the legs onto a wood-support. We also use a large block with holes to support the props while stripping and cleaning.

22 – After the third application of stripper and cleaning with a scraper, only wet stripper material remains on the surface.

23 – We cleaned any stripper residue from the surface using extra fine steel wool.

24 – When the surfaces were dry, we sanded them and applied wood-repair patch colored with brown mahogany stain to damaged areas.

25 – We sanded the repaired areas.

26 – We applied brown mahogany stain to the solid wood surfaces and walnut-colored grain filler to the veneered surfaces of the legs and the music desk.

27 – We scrubbed the piano plate.

28 – We rubbed down the finished surface of the soundboard with three grades of polish, leaving in satin sheen.

29 – We refinished the new pinblock with sealer and satin urethane before drilling the tuning pin holes in it.

30 – When restoring pianos we seldom use stripper to clean plates, but this one had so many coats of previous finishes that we felt we had no choice. After brushing on stripper, we scrapped and brushed the surfaces, cleaning them down to bare metal.

31 – Agraffes are made of brass and shouldn't be refinished. We spent a lot of time cleaning previous layers of finish from them and polishing them, ensuring a clean "termination point" for each string.

32 – We masked off the agraffes so they would remain clean throughout the plate refinishing process, and cleaned all surfaces with wax & grease remover.

33 – We applied a thick coat of buff-colored catalized urethane primer.

34 – We smoothed the primed plate surfaces with "scotch-brite" pads.

35 – We applied a pale gold color coat to surfaces of the plate.

36 – Before applying a final clear top coat on the plate, we installed a new serial number.

37 – We installed a new Chickering fallboard before applying the final coat of lacquer.

38 – Using 220-grit sandpaper, we smoothed the lacquered surfaces, in preparation for applying a final coat of clear satin lacquer.

39 – On veneered surfaces such as the piano lid, the final finish coat of satin lacquer accentuates the beautiful grain pattern of the mahogany veneer.

40 – For all pieces that required lacquer on both sides, we first applied a final coat on one side and then, after a day's drying time, we masked off the finished side before lacquering the other side. This will prevent lacquer overspray from contaminating the side already finished.

41 – We placed the finished pieces in a corner of our showroom for drying. These will be installed in the piano after the restringing and reconditioning work has been completed.

42 – We cleaned and polished the brass pedals and pedal props.

41 – We rebushed the holes with new felt and reassembled the pedal lyre.

42 – We reinstalled the refinished legs and pedal lyre on the piano.

43 – We reinstalled the refinished pinblock.

44 – We cleaned and polished the plate bolts and screws before tightening them to seat the plate.

45 – We painted the plate lettering with black enamel.

46 – Restringing is completed before the final coat of lacquer is applied to the case.

47 – With the plate and keybed masked off, we applied the final coat of lacquer.

48 – We sanded, stained, and lacquered the wood parts of the bench.

49 – We cleaned and polished all brass hardware, installed new nameboard felt, and installed the refinished fallboard in the piano.

50 – We installed the fallboard using new, longer screws to ensure a snug fit.

51 – We assembled and installed the refinished the music rest and music desk.

52 – We assembled and installed the refinished lid and lid props.

53 – We assembled the refinished bench.

54 – Ready for delivery!