Piano Restored On Contract

Decker Square Grand #5382 (1869)

Elegant rosewood cabinet. Built in 1869. Reconditioned by Ray's Piano Service in 2004. The owner of this piano wanted a square grand piano to place in the music room of their Victorian home. We explained to the owner that this style of piano will not play as well as a modern piano because the dampers depend on gravity for silencing the strings after playing, and because of several additional features that are outdated. Also, not all parts are available from the piano supply houses.  Nevertheless, the owner was interested in having it play as well as possible. We reconditioned the action and tuned the piano, and we will restring and repin on a future date.

SPECIAL NOTE:

As a rule, we are reluctant to service square grand pianos because parts are unavailable, and because most older square grand pianos no longer play well due to wear and age of moving parts. We felt this square grand had potential, and that we would not need to make too many parts in the reconditioning process. We arranged with the owner to charge for our time spent on the job, and we did not provide the normal one-year guarantee on our improvements. Nevertheless, we were pleased with the final result--and the client was delighted! All the keys now play, and the dampers work quite well also.

IMPROVEMENTS INCLUDED:

Recondition action—Tighten all screws, reshape hammers, repair or replace defective parts.

Complete Regulate—All adjustments to ensure that piano plays well. Install new underkey punchings. Tune to pitch.
SCHEDULE:

Restoration scheduled: Work completed June 2004.

1869 Decker Square Grand - "After" picture, taken in client's home.

1869 Decker Square Grand
Pictures of the Improvement Process
taken in our shop:

1 – We will install hinges on the music rest and a prop on the lyre so these parts can be secured well to the piano.

2 – We cleaned the keytops and repaired several jacks.

3 – We tightened action screws, reshaped the hammers and replaced two broken hammer butts.

4 – We cleaned the dampers and replaced a few that were damaged.

5 – We cleaned the keyframe, polished the key pins, and installed new underkey punchings.

6 – After reassembling the action, we regulated hammer blow distance, capstans, and letoff.

7 – We took the music rest to our shop for repairs. We made three components for it so that it would fit properly in the piano.

8 – We placed the repaired music rest in the brackets located on the piano.

9 – This model has huge legs.

10 – We attached the repaired lyre to the underside of the piano and adjusted the sustain mechanism.

11 – We installed new lid hinge pins and lid prop screws, so that the lid can remain open for louder sound.

12 – The piano looks like a rectangular box when the lid is closed.