Restored on Contract with Owner

55" Howard Upright #64242

Tall, beautifully carved oak cabinet. Built in 1911 by Baldwin, Indiana. Restored by Ray’s Piano Service.

IMPROVEMENTS:

Dismantle, Clean—Dismantle. Clean interior. Check casters, replace if necessary. Rebuild pedal mechanisms, install new pedals.

Restring, Repin—Remove original strings, pins, and plate; repair and refinish soundboard and bridges, re-install plate, restring and repin.

Recondition action—Tighten action screws. Install new hammers, dampers, bridle tapes, catcher leather. Replace defective parts.

Complete Regulation—All adjustments to ensure that piano plays like new, using new underkey punchings. Tune to A-440

Refinish--Strip cabinet & panels, repair as needed, sand, stain, sealer, lacquer. Install new buttons, knobs, fallboard decal. Replate pedals.

SCHEDULE:

Picked Up in Lynden, WA—May 7, 2005

Restoration—May-June 2005

Delivery--July 9, 2005

1911 Howard Upright "After" picture. We refinished the veneered and carved surfaces with dark oak stain, filler, sealer, and lacquer. This piano now plays and sounds like new!

1911 Howard Upright "Before" picture. The beautiful oak-veneered cabinet has been previously refinished with urethane. The owner would like us to refinish the cabinet with satin lacquer.

1911 Howard Upright
Pictures of the restoration process
taken in our shop:

1 – Although the previous finish shows some of the beauty of the original veneer, it was applied without stain and filler, resulting in two problems: the texture is uneven because the grains have not been filled, and the darker colors appear "dirty" because stain was not applied. The owner would like the finish to look more like the underside of the lid, which was never previously refinished.

2 – The interior of the piano appeared to be in good order, but there were multiple problems--pins were loose, bass strings were "dull" sounding, hammers were badly worn, dampers didn't dampen the sound well, and to top it off, the piano was so badly out-of-regulation that there was hardly any response when keys were struck. Replacement of pins, strings, hammers, dampers and other defective parts, plus a complete regulation, will return the piano to excellent playing condition.

3 – The original pedals still work well, but the nickel-plating has completely worn off. We will have the pedals replated as part of the restoration. Also, we found that the piano was hard to move because the casters didn't appear to work well. We will check them and, if necessary, replace them.

4 – We dismantled the piano while on its back. This made it possible to remove all panels, the keybed, the pedal board and the lower panel support. We placed all panels in temporary storage while continuing work on the main body, action, and pedal board.

5 – We placed the keys, all screws, pedal rods and metal parts in containers for storage while working on the main body and the action.

6 – The original casters had become so badly bent out of shape that they no longer swivelled, so we replace them with new pedals.

5 – We removed all strings. We packaged the bass strings for mailing to the string-maker who will be instructed to make a new identical set.

6 – We removed the plate bolts and screws, and the action bolts. Then we lifted the plate out of the piano so we could strip and repair the main body, the soundboard and the bridges.

7 – We stripped and sanded the insides of the sidewalls, the soundboard, bridges, and the pinblock in the area of the serial number. Then we applied sealer and spar urethane to these surfaces.

8 – After a thorough sanding, we applied dark oak stain and grain filler, followed by two coats of sealer and at least three coats of satin lacquer, to all veneered surfaces.

9 – We cleaned the plate with detergent.

10 – We lifted the plate back into the piano. We then cleaned and polished all plate bolts and bolted the plate in place. Then we installed new understring felt.

11 – We installed new strings and new pins. Then we installed new stringing braid near and bass and lower treble bridges.

12 – We applied dark oak stain, filler, sealer, and several coats of lacquer to all veneer surfaces. We applied an official fallboard decal under the final coat of lacquer.

12 – We repaired and refinished the pedal board, then re-assembled all components after cleaning. The pedals were replated.

13 – We installed the pedal board support and the pedal plate, which has been replated.

14 – We re-installed the pedal board and the keybed supports.

15 – We installed the keybed.

14 – We reconditioned the action. We replaced worn butt squares, cleaned and polished all springs, tightened screws, after removing the rails, dampers, and old bridle tapes.

15 – We cleaned the action rails, removed the damper pads, and replaced the hammer rail cloth.

16 – We removed all old hammers and worn shanks and butts. We replaced the defective butts and installed new hammers and damper pads.

17 – We conducted all regulation adjustments: damper alignment, sustain, key height and leveling, capstans, letoff, dip. Then we tuned the piano several times.

18 – We installed the mute bar attachment.

19 – We installed the fallboard assembly, front panels, and the lid. FINISHED!