The picture is the result of me being a bit bored, a bit creative and deciding after all to bite the bullet and just order the new hammers, shanks and flanges. The new ones are coming from good old US of A and will be here when they get here. In the meantime I didn't know what to do with thie old ones. Shall I keep them as spares for any potential repairs I may do on other pianos in the future or shall I stick 'em on Ebay? I'll keep them for a few years like I do with most stuff, never use them and probably just end up flinging them in a good old-fashioned clearout! Until then though, don't they look pretty?
Well, dear reader - the day was bound to come eventually and today was it. I'd got to the exciting bit of the job and was totally knackered by unseen forces! (not quite but it feels like that sometimes doesn't it?)
I'd checked the beauty of the newly laquered black keys which are not only black but have a moderately shiny surfact to them too - classy that you know! The time was right - the bit I've been looking forward to. Checking the downbearing on the crown (sounds complex but it ain't. The strings have pressure to make the crown lift and causing it to resonate. Too much and it's wrong, too little and it's wrong. It was ok. I then wanted to remove the strings to send the bass strings off to be remade. Right, where's the tuning lever? Hmm, not where it is supposed to be. I'll look in this bag, nope, that one, no. Hmm, how about in that drawer? Or that cupboard or that room or this room or that shelf or the loft or back again to where I thought it was originally. 4 HOURS I spent looking for the bloody thing. Nowt. I wasn't a happy bunny. I can't think where it is. I've not seen it (I don't think) for several months; not since my other piano was sent off into storage. I wonder if it went off with that? Oh well. I've spoken to my mate, Jerry and he's lending me one so I'll be ok but it was very, very annoying. Can you tell? lol
What did I do in the meantime though? I dismantled the damper action of course - what else would I do? It's actually in ver good condition and doesn't need a lot doing to it apart from a good clean out. However, I've decided to re-bush the damper rail as a matter of course as it'll only need doing some other time in the future. I've pushed out all of the old bushings that were really faded and will be inserting the new ones tomorrow. You should have seen the dust!
I was under the piano doing something or other this morning and got up and carried on what I was working on. About an hour later (after talking to one of the neighbours for half an hour or so) I went in the house and Martin said "What's that all over your face?" I looked in the mirror and my face was black. I looked like an Al Jolson impersonator! The neighbour didn't even bat an eyelid. How's that for tact?
As the evening was wearing on I wanted to do something productive rather than feel sorry for myself over this lever so I got the Nitromorse (varnish remover) out. I attacked the long bent side of the piano with it and within half an our or so I'd got the lot off and down to the bare wood. It looks really nice already. I sanded the part down that I'd stripped and will probably continue the stripping tomorrow for an hour or two.
This whole project is coming on extremely quickly. I feel that I've got to slow it down significantly as if I'm not careful I'll have a fully restored piano in the garage that in effect will be almost open to the elements which is crazily bad for it. "Hold your horses, sunshine" as my granda used to say!
I should be able to replace the black keys in the action tomorrow which will mean that can be put away out of sight until the hammers, shanks and flanges arrive instead of it sitting in the middle of the living room floor like it has done for the last week. Martin is very patient. Well, the thing is, we were moving it in and out for every day so that it was tidy when I'd finished working on it but as it got more complete it got heavier, and heavier and harder to man handle around the house so we sort of tacitly decided to leave it there where it was until most of the work was done. We've probably got company staying on Thursday night so it had better be out of the way for Toby coming - she'll only laugh otherwise.
Well, dear reader - the day was bound to come eventually and today was it. I'd got to the exciting bit of the job and was totally knackered by unseen forces! (not quite but it feels like that sometimes doesn't it?)
I'd checked the beauty of the newly laquered black keys which are not only black but have a moderately shiny surfact to them too - classy that you know! The time was right - the bit I've been looking forward to. Checking the downbearing on the crown (sounds complex but it ain't. The strings have pressure to make the crown lift and causing it to resonate. Too much and it's wrong, too little and it's wrong. It was ok. I then wanted to remove the strings to send the bass strings off to be remade. Right, where's the tuning lever? Hmm, not where it is supposed to be. I'll look in this bag, nope, that one, no. Hmm, how about in that drawer? Or that cupboard or that room or this room or that shelf or the loft or back again to where I thought it was originally. 4 HOURS I spent looking for the bloody thing. Nowt. I wasn't a happy bunny. I can't think where it is. I've not seen it (I don't think) for several months; not since my other piano was sent off into storage. I wonder if it went off with that? Oh well. I've spoken to my mate, Jerry and he's lending me one so I'll be ok but it was very, very annoying. Can you tell? lol
What did I do in the meantime though? I dismantled the damper action of course - what else would I do? It's actually in ver good condition and doesn't need a lot doing to it apart from a good clean out. However, I've decided to re-bush the damper rail as a matter of course as it'll only need doing some other time in the future. I've pushed out all of the old bushings that were really faded and will be inserting the new ones tomorrow. You should have seen the dust!
I was under the piano doing something or other this morning and got up and carried on what I was working on. About an hour later (after talking to one of the neighbours for half an hour or so) I went in the house and Martin said "What's that all over your face?" I looked in the mirror and my face was black. I looked like an Al Jolson impersonator! The neighbour didn't even bat an eyelid. How's that for tact?
As the evening was wearing on I wanted to do something productive rather than feel sorry for myself over this lever so I got the Nitromorse (varnish remover) out. I attacked the long bent side of the piano with it and within half an our or so I'd got the lot off and down to the bare wood. It looks really nice already. I sanded the part down that I'd stripped and will probably continue the stripping tomorrow for an hour or two.
This whole project is coming on extremely quickly. I feel that I've got to slow it down significantly as if I'm not careful I'll have a fully restored piano in the garage that in effect will be almost open to the elements which is crazily bad for it. "Hold your horses, sunshine" as my granda used to say!
I should be able to replace the black keys in the action tomorrow which will mean that can be put away out of sight until the hammers, shanks and flanges arrive instead of it sitting in the middle of the living room floor like it has done for the last week. Martin is very patient. Well, the thing is, we were moving it in and out for every day so that it was tidy when I'd finished working on it but as it got more complete it got heavier, and heavier and harder to man handle around the house so we sort of tacitly decided to leave it there where it was until most of the work was done. We've probably got company staying on Thursday night so it had better be out of the way for Toby coming - she'll only laugh otherwise.
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