at last

Well, today I thought I'd take the Christmas decorations down. Once I'd done that I had to get the ladders out of the loft. I went into the garage to get the ladders. While I was there I just checked the crown in the soundboard of the piano. I have been a little concerned about it but there was no need to fear to be honest. It seems to have stayed perfectly intact. More through luck than judgement.

I've been trying and trying to come up with a way of getting the old paint off the frame - which I spoke of in my last post I believe. I've got gallons of Nitromors left over from when I was stripping the case of the piano so I thought I'd have a go with that. Like the right divot that I am I put it on, did a job or two while it 'went off' and came back. I got my wire brush and gave it a bit of a going over. To my total surprise the paint came off! Well, who knew that paintstripper would remove paint?!?! All this time I've been hanging on not doing it because of the small patch I tried a year ago not working. It turns out that I'd just not left it for long enough.

Of course, the perfect timing is that the day after tomorrow I have my second carpal tunnel operation and won't be able to even consider using my hand for anything other than the royal wave for about a fortnight. Oh well, it'll give me something to start doing before Easter won't it?

Still 'ere!

Hello again. No, I'd not died and given up the ghost. I've had lots of other things going on this year that have sadly meant that the piano has had to take a back seat. However, it's going to be getting more attention very soon.

I was hoping to be able to keep the keytops for both the black and the white keys but after lots of deliberating I decided that it wasn't going to give me the finish I was aspiring for so I took the white ones off. They came off very easily and in one piece too. I did the usual eBay thing and came up with a full set of brand new off-white keytops with change out of £30 including delivery. Needless to say I was pleased!

The black keys are another issue...

I did spray them as it shows in a much earlier post but after a few months it became clear that it wasn't going to be acceptable. I don't mind that, I'm glad it turned out to not be right before I'd put the piano back together again!!!

We had a burst water pipe in the garage the other day which is where this piano and my smaller 6ft Kawai grand are both being stored at present. We were terrified to open the garage door. The temperature had been down to minus 17 and was consistently around there for about two weeks. Loads of pipes in the area were freezing up. Now, I wasn't worried about the pianos in the garage as they're extremely well insulated specifically because of where they are but I'd not born a burst pipe in mind. When the postman knocked on the door saying "I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but there's water pouring out of your garage" we both thought that the pianos had had it. We were SO LUCKY you'd not believe it. Yes, the pipe had burst. Yes it was right beside the piano but it had burst in the complete opposide direction to where either of the pianos were and was just running almost directly under the garage door. Obviously, it was spraying off the wall a bit but the pianos were both as dry as a bone. It was then that I thought that I've got to get on with this project.

2011 is the year this piano gets finished... I hope!

Novelty toys

Once again, it has been a very long time since I last updated what I've been upto. I'm only doing it to keep you keen. What's the old saying? "Treat 'em mean, and keep em clean".

The piano is still moving forward but purely through my fault it's doing so extremely slowly. I'm sort of caught between two separate phases and am sort of taking a breather from the first part as it was particularly labour intensive but also sucking my teeth and rubbing my chin a bit before I start on the next part as I'm not entirely certain how to do it as yet so haven't started until I'm sure.

I've now sorted the bridge out, it is entirely free of varnish and had all of the wipeawayable stuff duly wiped away. I've filled the holes with an epoxy glue where the pins go before I start to replace them. That's where I'm stalling a bit. I've not ordered the correct sized pins to go back in so far so will really have to pull my finger out as they say.

However, the more pressing point is to have the frame regilded. Steve has now made the pin block and is moderately keen to get it back into the frame so he can clear it out of his workshop. Fair enough. BUT, to get it regilded, I need to get in touch with someone who can actually come and not only do the job but do a very good job. I know there's someone very nearby who should be up to the task though so it's purely laziness on my part that it hasn't been done.

I'll have to reface the face of the bridge with carbon. I've got the carbon (not easy to obtain) so will just have to apply it. Should be easy enough from what I can work out. it seems that the hardest part of dealing with it is making a neat job of the application. Hopefully I'll not quite have the DTs when I do it!

Yes, I'm still here!

I hope you didn't think you'd been forsook... Or is it forsaken? Depends which century you're in I suppose. I do know that Purcell used the word forsook in Dido and Aeneas but I suppose that could be old English now. ANYWAY you've not been either forsaken or forsook. I bet you're glad that's out of the way!

So, although I've been pretty quiet over the summer when it has come to the Blogging lark, there have been one or two things going on in the meantime.

As I stated in one or two earlier posts, my mate, Steve has been very helpful in the process. As a matter of fact, helpful is nowhere near strong enough a word to describe what he's done.

As Steve is a very, very good carpenter he has been working on building the wrestplank or pin block or whatever you want to call it. Basically, if you've not read the earlier posts of the blog, it's the bit of wooden plank that the tuning pins screw into. The plank has to be of a very strong and stable wood. After lots of research, I decided not on Delignit as most places seem to recommend but on beech instead. Although Delignit is, no doubt very good there were a few problems with it. Mostly getting the bloody stuff. It's easier getting hold or rocking horse turds than getting hold of that stuff. Anyway, after deciding on the beech, Steve went off to Penrith to his supplier and started making the laminates that make up the board. The board needs to be 1.5" thick. As the piano was originally built in imperial measurements, Steve has also decided to work in that way too. So, here's how Steve did it...

What you see is a jig that the individual laminates sit on. The jig ensures that the plank is ABSOLUTELY flat. That's very important. We don't want a bowed bit of wood that's meant to be straight do we?

Steve used a contact adhesive which is very, very strong indeed. In fact, it went off so quickly that he struggled to get the laminates together quickly enough. Nevertheless he managed so far and also so far it is very successful. Obviously, he's not finished yet as the holes need to be drilled as well as it being fitted (exactly) to the frame.

After doing my little bit of restoration work on the bridge, I wasn't happy with it so removed what I'd done. I'm now going to redo that which, despite being very slow-going, it actually very easy.

Today I went into the garage to see what small job I could undertake. I didn't fancy busting a gut so decided to take one of the legs off; the back one if you're interested, and did the usual nitromorse. I took a couple of photographs of the before and after stripping so you can see the huge improvement. I was very pleased with the results and I'm sure you can understand why.

From the photos you'll see that there was a very tired, old brass castor. You should have seen how difficult it was to get that off. Eventually I resorted to a hammer and the flat edge of a screwdriver. not a good idea but it did work without leaving a mark, which amazed me. Once again, the rest of the day was set aside to do what only I, a former trainee clockmaker can do so well. The brasso came out and was used for the next two hours or so. I've just got to laquer the brass which is easy to do and that's that one done. So, two down, one to go!

A few weeks ago I tried to remove some of the paint on the frame of the piano. It wasn't really very successful. I'm wondering if I should hire a sandblaster or something. Yes, it'll be pretty heavy-duty but in the longrun will be far more effective at getting the required removal of paint as well as being very quick indeed. I'll have to research again I think. If it's more than £50 or so I'll be going back to the drawing board on that idea. maybe I'll just sit with my bucket and spade and flick individual grains at it between my finger and thumb until it's all done. I'm sure it won't take too long to do it that way.

Oh, and I hope you like my slippers in the last piccy!!!

Gaining momentum

As is my usual habit, I've been trawling the internet looking at stuff that is pretty much pointless. However, I did stumble across a company that make the world's largest production pianos. Bosendorfer make a 9'6" "Imperial" grand with the extra black notes at the bottom that has been the world's largest production instrument. Well, the Rubenstein R-371 is the piece in question. What do you think of it? (If I'm infringing copryright by publishing the image, just let me know and I'll remove it... however, if I increase sales I'll expect commission!!!)

So, the piano work is starting to get going again after my recovery of that horrible thing that gets in the way of life... work.

Earlier this week I decided that I wasn't happy after all with the finish of the soundboard as it just didn't "do it" for me. Out came the sandpaper again and I did a good bit of rubbing down as you'd expect - I'm not likely to get sandpaper out to make a Victoria sponge am I? After dealing with the sanding I worked on removing the finish from the bridges. This wasn't particularly easy due to the awkward angles in the construction of the bridge. After a good bit of contortion I managed to clear them of all of the varnish. Off I went (YET AGAIN ) to B&Q. As a matter of course I got the usual, some new brushes, just in case, some more sandpaper (you can never have too much) as I've got the wonderful habit of putting it somewhere safely so I don't lose it and then can't find it; only to discover it once I've been out to buy some more. Oh, and I got some clear varnish too, of course!

The clear varish went on a treat. I was very pleased with the way it laid as an application. So far I've done two VERY thin coats. I just hate streaky varnish on an item. It makes it look like an amateur piece of work - which it is - but I don't want everyone to know... Just the three billion people on the globe with internet access.

The next thing on the agenda, which will be happening very soon, is to start work on the iron frame. Or, as it is called in USA, the plate. I think frame is better myself so that's what I'll call it.

Anyway, the plate has been removed for a good while and has been standing against the garage wall (inside, obviously) since about March. It is very tall measuring somewhere in the region of 8 feet or maybe just a little over. The gold finish is chipped in a few areas so I'm not able to do the quick tidy up I was hoping for. I've decided to strip the old finish off. After that I'll have to do a tiny bit of filling to ensure the frame doesn't have all sharp edges where it shouldn't. After that a primer coat will have to be added. Once that has gone off I'll be able to work with the finishing coat(s). I'm not anticipating that to happen until maybe the end of August if I'm realistic.

You should see the job I've had getting hold of graphite. It's as rare as rocking horse manure! I need the stuff to coat the tops of the bridges. It acts as a mild lubricant where the strings stretch across it. I'm not sure what I'll do about that... Keep hunting I suppose. I know you can buy it in bulk but I don't think I'll be needing a kilo somehow. If push comes to shove I'll buy a pure graphite pencil from an art shop and shave it down to powder and apply that with a touch of alcohol (for the application, not me to stand there with a cravat and a martini looking at the thing!)

I also did a good bit of restoration on the bridges. (They're the long curved bits of wood on the above picture with black tops and notches cut out along the length of them) Bridges do have a tendency to get little cracks (or bigguns!) after many years with the amount of side pressure they have to deal with. Well, this one is perfectly fine on the whole. However, I'm not prepared to muck about presuming it's alright only to find later that it's not. So, out came "the idiot's guide to piano restoration" again and you can do a sort of injection of epoxy glue into the holes where the pins used to be (as I've removed them) and that seals all the potential gaps inside. I did that... 269 holes or thereabouts in total. It took bloody ages. Each hole took about a minute. If you do the sums and add a bit for dicking about it works out to be around five hours work... And to the naked eye there's not one shred of evidence that it has been carried out. However, I know that it has been done, so there.

This afternoon I'm going to give the soundboard a light sanding once more and apply the last (or last-but-one) coat of varnish. Hope you like it!

'Til next time,

bye for now!

Long-time-no-blog!

Hi all! (or should I say, hi both?)

It has been an absolute age since I last blogged about my piano. Why is that? Well, to be honest there hasn't been a lot going on with it at the moment. I've sort of come to an impasse.

As you know, the action has had a lovely overhaul by yours truly. The hammers are lovely and new and shiny the black keys are lovely and black and the white keys are lovely and nearly white and all the felt is enjoying being felt... I'm jealous of an inanimate object!

The reason for the huge pause in the work is that I'm now at the stage of rebuilding rather than dismantling. This is where the precision comes into its own. You've got to be accurate to within .2 of an atom or something so my usual mode of measuring (oh, that's near enough...ish) won't be sufficient.

My mate, Steve is making the pin block for me. That's a very, very difficult and precision job. I've told him that there's no room whatsoever for error and it has to be bang on (which is what no room for error means really!). He's very skilled indeed and to be honest, I'd not trust anyone other than him to do it. He's an exceptional craftsman. The pinblock will be made of several laminates of beech, all of which will be cross grained. That means, one laminate going in one direction, the next going in a different direction and the next another etc. That way it builds up a tremendous amount of strength which will create a lot of tuning stability. Once that has been made we'll be able to fit it to the frame and drill the holes for the tuning pins. Of course, the holes have to be drilled at a 7 degree angle to ensure that there's a bit of tension away from the strings rather than having them going straight down into the block and being pulled and bent by the huge forces of tension.

I've been looking at the casework on the piano and thinking about how to restore that. The wood is ok but not fantastic. This is where I get into the realms of "Are you bloody mad?" Well, actually, yes as it happens. I really think I might re-veneer the entire instrument. I know it'll be expensive, labour intensive, expensive, difficult to do, expensive and not to mention dear. However, if I'm doing it for myself I might as well do it exactly how I want it. I'm not anticipating doing it on another concert grand piano I may end up with in the future as I'm not planning on having another one... or am I? (Don't tell Martin!) I really fancy a flame mahogany butterfly pattern on the lid but I'd guess the veneer for the entire instrument will cost me £500 or so which is money I'd not included in the budget. However, as the expenditure is a drip-feed you don't really notice amounts going out as you're just spending £60 here, £80 there etc.

I've really got to learn the best way to finish the casework anyway. I really want it to be a bit of a showpiece if I can. The last thing I want is ill fitted veneer with a rubbish finish. I'd love a deep mahogany colour with a beautiful high-gloss. Mind you, the trouble with high-gloss pianos is that you spend most of your time cleaning them. They're magnets for dust. My other piano is a black high-gloss grand and you spend half of your time wiping it down with a damp cloth and then buffing it back up again. It's amazing how greasy they get if you're not careful too.

Best Day So Far.

By the title of this entry you can probably guess that I'm feeling very pleased with myself.

For a few weeks now I've been looking at the piano and trying to work out how to remove the pin block. For those who don't know, the pin block is the plank of laminated wood that stretches from the left to the right of the piano. It sits under the metal plate and its job is to take the tuning pins. The tuning pins are hammered into it then are turned slightly every time it is tuned. The pin block does deteriorate after time mainly due to age, temperature changes and of course the huge amount of pressure it is under from all of the tension from the strings. This pin block was shot so it had to come out. However, I didn't really know how to do it. I searched and searched the internet for advice and couldn't find anything. I looked in one of the four books I've got on piano restoration and they all said in that particular chapter "first, remove the pin block. After that you need to make another one" with no hint on how to remove it!!! So, I had all of the screws removed by Steve as I mentioned in an earlier post. After that I couldn't really make any headway. I tried to jemmy it out. It didn't budge. After weeks of procrastinating I eventually bit the bullet today. I went off to Homebase and bought a dead cheap set of chisels. Got them home, got the thickest and heaviest one out of the packet and started thwacking against the glue joints. Almost immediately it started to look promising. After a few seconds of belting it (that's the professional term) I heard a huge crack. Don't worry, it was what I wanted to hear. I looked down and the glue joint has come away! HURRAY! The front rail was moving forward and cracked the veneer but I expected that and was planning on replacing the veneer anyway. Cutting a long story short I got it out! It was a big big job but well worth taking the time to ensure it was done correctly.

I've also completed another task that took a LOT longer that I'd ever think was imagineable. The soundboard needed to have the varnish removed. I'd say it took me best part of 20 hours to do it! It's such a slow process. However, the soundboard looks fantastic now. Have a look at the picture to see for yourself.

Once all the finish was removed from the soundboard I then started to remove the bridge pins. I totted up that there's 480 of them on this piano. Each one of them is very tightly wedged into the bridge so that the string can go between them and thus increase pressure. Trying to remove them is a job in itself as they're at an offset angle. They don't just go straight in you know. One one side they point a little towards you and on the other side they point a little away from you. Trying to get a decent purchase while pulling on them is very hard and you're more than aware that you could damage the bridge or the soundboard. I'll be replacing all of the pins with new ones after I've given the top of the bridge a little tittivation to smarten it up.

Some terrible news coming up... Well, it's not actually, I think it's pretty funny.

Since we put our house on the market in June last year, my other grand piano has been in storage courtesy of my friends at Omega Music which is on the trading estate just around the corner from us. Of course, we all thought that the house would be on the market for 10 minutes and the piano could go to wherever we moved to. As soon as the for sale board went up the property market collapsed. So, as a consequence, my other piano has languished courtesy of the local piano dealer, in a storage depot for 10 months. Well, they rang me the other day. "Hi Stuart, we're giving up the storage facility. Where shall we bring your piano back to?" The phrase "BUGGER!" came to my lips. So, after a lot of argy-bargy I've made room in the garage for the other piano to come back on Wednesday. You'd think our garage is a tardis wouldn't you? I'll have 15ft worth of grand pianos in there! I'll leave the current piano on its legs and the other one will stay on its side as I'll not be working on that one anyway. You may ask why we took it out of the house to start with? Well, our living room is only 12' square and a 6' grand piano in it did rather dominate so we thought it'd be wiser to remove it to make the place seem a little roomier. I've got to say that it's lovely without the piano in here as space is something we're not really used to. Martin did have a habit of saying "Give me a tune" for a few weeks after the piano had been taken away as he knew how much I was missing it. Of course, he got a slap.

At this point I'd like to report some bullying. It's not something I'd like to put into the public domain but what the hell. I've got a friend called Ellen S. She's a retired teacher from Norway and she's been picking on me. Tell 'er, mam! Actually I'm thrilled that someone other than me looks at this thing. You do wonder sometimes don't you?