Piano Restored On Contract

37" Winter Spinet "Musette" #314149

Walnut cabinet, "drop action." Built in 1953, Restored by Ray’s Piano Service, Fall 2005

IMPROVEMENTS COMPLETED:

Rebuild, Restring, Repin—Destring, repair soundboard, remove plate, repair & refinish sound board, reinstall plate, repin bass, restring & repin treble, rebuild pedal mechanisms.

Recondition action—Complete cleaning, tighten all screws, install new hammers, install new plastic elbows.

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

Refinish—Repair cabinet veneer, strip all parts, apply sealer and lacquer, reassemble.

SCHEDULE:

Picked up—from client's home in Lynnwood, WA, September 17, 2005

Restoration—September-October, 2005

Delivered—to client's new home in Everett, WA, November 19, 2005

1953 Winter Spinet "Musette"-- "AFTER" picture

1953 Winter Spinet "Musette"-- "BEFORE" picture

1953 Winter Spinet "Musette"
Pictures of the Evaluation & Restoration Process
taken in our shop:

1 – The owner wants the piano cabinet returned to "as new" appearance. The lid shows an area of water damage. We will completely strip, repair loose veneer, and refinish all exterior wood parts.

2 – Due an "accidental drop" during a previous move, the soundboard was damaged and cracked. In addition, the tuning pins are quite loose. We will destring the piano, remove the plate, providing access to properly repair the soundboard.

3 – The owner would like to maintain the current appearance of the keys, in spite of a chipped key and a butt-burned key--as a reminder of the piano during her childhood.

4 – As part of the refinishing project, we will replace the decal located below the music desk.

5 – We dismantled the piano, removing one side panel so that we could access the soundboard area for repairs. We removed the bass strings.

6 – We removed the tuning pins.

7 – We placed the panels and other parts on our storage rack.

8 – We placed the piano action on our action cradle for reconditioning.

9 – After removing the strings and plate, we sanded the soundboard, repaired the damaged area, and painted new liquid graphite on the bridges.

10 – Repaired soundboard area--from the back of the piano. The other side of this part of the soundboard will be under the plate when the piano is reassembled.

11 – We stripped the old finish from all wood parts.

12 – We cleaned the plate with detergent and polished it with metal polish.

13 – We reinstalled the plate.

14 – We installed new piano wire in the treble, using new larger-size tuning pins. We had prepared two guides for this process earlier: a sketch of the string arrangement at the hitch pins, and a sketch of wire gauges and the pitch of each note.

15 – We cleaned the original bass strings with steel wool and re-installed them. Now we are ready for re-assembly and refinishing, while we recondition the action during "drying times" of each coat of finish.

16 – We re-installed the right side wall, the keybed and the casters (after repairing and cleaning them), then we repaired veneered surfaces wherever that was needed, and we thoroughly sanded all surfaces.

17 – We applied woodfiller pigmented with dark walnut stain to all veneered surfaces.

18 – We masked off the plate and strings, and then we applied two coats of lacquer on the piano main body.

19 – After applying two coats of lacquer to all wood parts of the piano, we thoroughly sanded the lacquered areas, resulting in a very smooth top surface.

20 – The final coat of lacquer has a smooth, satin top surface--the grain pattern of the veneer comes through beautifully.

21 – We removed all the old plastic "elbows," which were hard and brittle.

22 – We removed all the dampers and the spring rail, in order to have open access to the hammers.

23 – We removed the old hammers, even numbers first, and installed new hammers in the same order--to ensure that the new hammers were properly aligned. Where necessary, we straightened warped shanks.

24 – We cleaned and reconditioned the dampers (tightened the springs and block screws), then cleaned and lubricated the damper rails, and re-installed the dampers.

25 – We installed new plastic "elbows" on the abstracts and re-installed the abstracts in the wippens. The action is now ready for regulation.

26 – We removed the pedals and hardware from the pedal board, cleaned and refinished the board, cleaned and polished the pedals, and reassembled the hardware.

27 – After all parts were refinished, we re-installed the pedal board and its supporting hardware onto the bottom of the piano.

28 – We installed new underkey punchings, bolted the action into place, replaced the keys, and conducted complete regulation adjustments to ensure the correct touch.

29 – We tuned the piano several times until it was close to concert pitch. Before delivery, the piano will be tuned again several times.

30 – Before the final coat of lacquer, we installed a new Fallboard decal.

31 – We re-assembled the lower panel, the music rest, the key cover, and the lid. Finished!

32 – Front view of piano--finished.

33 – Close-up of pedals and lower decorative panel.

34 – From our inventory of used benches, we found one with legs of similar color and design. At delivery, the owner purchased this bench.