Previous Projects

5' Lyon & Healy Grand #38515

Beautifully refinished mahogany case. Built in 1929. Restored by Ray’s Piano Service.

IMPROVEMENTS COMPLETED:

Restring—Dismantle. Remove pins and strings. Restring & Repin. Refinish soundboard.

Recondition action—Install new hammers, dampers, and keytops, tighten all screws, replace defective parts.

Complete Regulation—All adjustments to ensure that piano plays like new, tune to A-440, tune.

Complete Refinishing—Strip all panels. Veneer repairs as needed. Apply stain, sealer, lacquer. Reassemble.

SOLD ON 11/16/07

1929 Lyon & Healy Grand 5'--"After--in our showroom"

1929 Lyon & Healy Grand 5'--"Before, In Our Shop"

1929 Lyon & Healy Grand 5'
Pictures of the Evaluation & Improvement Process
taken in our shop:

1 – We will replace the fallboard decal, as part of the refinishing project.

2 – We will replace the damper pads, the pins, strings, and keytops. This will be a beautiful mid-sized grand when completed.

3 – The frame is reinforced by three large beams extending across the piano.

4 – A close-up of the dampers shows their straight alignment to the strings. With new pads, they will perform well.

5 – This piano has a sostenuto mechanism on the middle pedal that works efficiently.

6 – Although the present keytops are ivory, several are missing and others are discolored. We will install new plastic keytops.

7 – A careful review of the action shows minimal wear on the wippens and backchecks.

8 – Since the hammer felts have worn almost to the wood core, we will install a new set of hammers.

9 – After removing the lid, the music rest, and the music rest glides, we removed the dampers and the bass strings. We will send the bass strings to the stringmaker for duplication.

10 – Using our ceiling-mounted winch, we lifted the plate out of the piano.

11 – We stripped the veneered parts of the piano, repaired the veneer where needed, sanded, then applied stain, grain filler, sealer, and lacquer.

12 – We scrubbed the plate with detergent.

13 – We stripped the veneered parts of the piano, repaired the veneer where needed, sanded, then applied stain, grain filler, sealer, and lacquer.

14 – We stripped, sanded, and refinished the soundboard and bridges with sealer and satin spar urethane.

15 – We removed the old damper pads, cleaned the wires, and installed new damper pads.

16 – We bolted the refinished plate back into place and installed understring felt.

17 – Using a guide for string sizes prepared before removing the old strings, we installed new strings and pins.

18 – We removed the old keytops and, using our special router jigs, we shaped the keytops to the keys.

19 – After removing the upper action and the keys, we cleaned the keyframe and installed new felt punchings and key cloth.

20 – With lead weights attached to the back checks, we regulated keyheight and key leveling.

21 – We installed new hammer heads on the current shanks, which were still in good condition.

22 – We regulated hammer height, letoff and dip.

23 – With the dampers not yet installed, leaving the hammers clearly visible, we aligned the hammers to the strings.

24 – We cleaned and lubricated the damper action.

25 – We polished the pedals and other brass parts.

26 – We installed the damper action and the dampers, regulating the damper wires one at a time.

27 – We tuned the piano again several times during the first weeks after restringing. We're now ready for re-assembly after refinishing has been completed. It  looks, plays and sounds beautiful!

28 – We installed a new fallboard decal under the final coat of lacquer.

29 – We reassembled the lyre, the lid, and the fallboard.

30 – Fishished! We're really proud of this restoration. The piano looks and plays like new!

31 – Finished--view from front.

32 – Fishished--view from left.