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!