Piano Restoration Process:

Assessment & Disassembly

Before restoration, the piano shows evidence of extensive water damage from a burst pipe in the home. Not only is the original finish cracking and flaking, but the piano cabinet and soundboard are warped and severely damaged from moisture saturation.

Piano Restoration Process:

Cabinet Repair & Refinishing

Because of the historical provenance, it was decided to "restore" the original finish rather than to "refinish" the piano.  Unlike most American-made pianos which turn black and scaly over time, English-built pianos were generally originally finished with shellac that doesn't turn black over the years.  After extensive drying and warpage correction, the cabinet was re-glued and "French Polished" by hand in order to restore the beauty and lusture of the original shellac finish.

The beautiful brass ormolu was polished and sealed, and missing pieces were replicated and reapplied.

Piano Restoration Process:

Soundboard Repair & Re-Stringing

Sadly, this piano sat beneath a burst pipe in a client's home and suffered extensive water damage prior to restoration.  Because the instrument was filled with water, the original soundboard and bridges were warped and destroyed beyond restoration, requiring a new soundboard to be hand-made for the piano.

The restoration was done with a historical perspective in mind, but the client did request we install modern style tuning pins so that a piano tuner would not have difficulty tuning the instrument.  The original strings are delicately wound and had to be hand-crafted for this special little instrument.

Piano Restoration Process:

Action & Keyboard Restoration

What beautiful ivory keys this little piano has!  Luckily, the ivory and ebony keys were restorable and left intact.  The mechanical action of the piano, however, was destroyed by the water damage and had to be duplicated in its entirety.  Because the parts for this instrument are obscure and not readily available, we specialize in making all of our parts "in house" on a case-by-case basis.  Our amazing action team was able to duplicate every last part of this delicate piano action both by hand and with the help of a CNC machine.

PHOTOS OF PIANO

AFTER COMPLETE RESTORATION

One can only imagine the pride we felt when the restoration was complete.  Not only had we managed to save the original finish, but we were able to duplicate and manufacture every last part of the interior mechanisms!

The piano now looks, plays and sounds like it did when it was built nearly 200 years ago.

It is fascinating to consider that when this instrument was built, there was no artificially amplified sound and the hustle and bustle of the industrial revolution was just beginning.  The sound of nature or perhaps the human voice would have been the loudest "noise"  one  would have heard on a regular basis.  Because their ears were accustom to the solace of very little noise, our ancestors considered the soft, "harp-like" sound quality of the early square piano to be very desirable.