Restored on Contract

57" Ellington Upright #27926

Beautiful burl walnut veneer. Built in 1910. Reconditioned by Ray's Piano Service February 2005.

IMPROVEMENTS:

Recondition Action—Tighten all action screws, replace bridle tapes and other defective parts, install new hammers.

Regulation, Tuning—Complete regulation, using new underkey punchings. Tune to A-440.

Cabinet, Keyboard--Check casters, replace if necessary. Install 14 ivory keytops to replace those missing or chipped, match as well as possible.

SCHEDULE: We picked up the piano in Mount Vernon on October 19, 2004. We will have the piano in our shop for a couple of months until the owners are ready for receiving it into their new home in Big Lake, so we plan to have the improvements completed by the end of January 2005. Value of this contract, including restoration work, moving, storage, guarantee, after-delivery tuning: $1500. Delivered to Big Lake, WA February 5, 2005.

"After" picture of 1910 Ellington Upright:

"Before" picture of 1910 Ellington Upright:

1910 Ellington Upright:
Pictures of the Improvement Process
taken in our shop:

1 – With the action on our workbench, we made a careful assessment of improvements required. We removed six hammers to be sent to the hammer maker as samples.

2 – We carefully examined the soundboard, ribs, and back posts. We found these all in very good condition, so we only needed to clean this part of the piano.

3 – With the piano on its back, we checked the casters. We replaced the two rear casters and tightened all the cabinet screws on the underside of the piano.

4 – We removed all old felt underkey punchings and key cloth. We cleaned the strings, plate, pressure bar, key pins and keyframe with steel wool, and sprayed silicone lubricant on the key pins. Then we installed new felt underkey punchings.

5 – We removed the dampers and the hammer spring rail, giving access to the damper rails for cleaning and lubricating.

6 - We cleaned the damper wires and bent the damper springs, in preparation for later re-installation.

7 – In this piano, the hammer butts are held in place by tiny brass butt plates. Several old butt plates were cracked, causing the hammers to "wobble." We replaced these plates with new ones.

8 – In this close-up view of the hammer butts, the butt plates can be seen. They are bolted to a long brass plate attached to the action rail.

9 – We cut away the old bridle tapes.

10 – After numbering all the hammers, we removed the even-numbered original hammer heads and replaced them with new hammer heads. Then we replaced the odd-numbered hammer heads.

11 – We glued new bridle tapes to the tops of the hammer butts, inserting the tapes through the holes in the butts.

12 – We cleaned the hammer rail springs and sprayed them with silicone. Then we bent them to increase their strength.

13 – We re-installed the hammer spring rail.

14 – We re-installed the damper levers.

15 – We inserted the bridle tapes into the bridle wires located on the wippens.

16 – After completion of action reconditioning, we installed the action in the piano and corrected the hammer-to-string and damper-to-string alignments. Then we set the hammer blow distance.

17 – We installed installed several ivory keytops, sanded and shaped the tops to make the size consistent, and polished the keytops on our buffer.

18 – Before re-installing keys, we regulated hammer blow distance.

19 – We installed installed several ivory keytops, sanded and shaped the tops to make the size consistent, and polished the keytops on our buffer.

20 – Before re-installing keys, we regulated hammer blow distance.

21 – We rebushed six keys with bushing cloth, using special cauls.

22 – New bushings installed.

23 – With the action and the keys in place, we completed several regulation processes: hammer height and leveling, letoff, keydip, sustain, damper wires, and damper spoons.

24 – The piano was about 1/2 tone flat in the middle, so we tuned it three times to achieve tuning stability.

25 – As we reassembled the piano, we cleaned and polished each component. We also installed new rubber buttons. The owner did not request refinishing, so we will offer to do that at a future time. It certainly is worth refinishing--with new hammers and a complete regulation, it plays and sounds like new.