Stan Curtis Piano Restoration

     The complete restoration process is basically in the order of the buttons within the menu, at the left of your screen.

    Restoration is necessary if the piano will not stay in tune, and if you consider the piano to be of value, either monetarily or nostalgically.  In many cases a complete restoration will cost much less than the price of a new piano! Complete restoration includes refinishing. Rebuilding includes everything except refinishing.  Refinishing is optional.

    My first step is to measure the downbearing, lower the tension of the wires, take all measurements of string diameter, and remove the wires, pins, and plate.

    We now come to the PIN BLOCK.  This must be replaced, as it gives the tuning pins the strength to hold tight. The piano will not hold a fine tuning without the added strength of a new pin block.  I will reinstall the pin block after having completed the next group of repairs. You can usually determine that a pinblock is going bad when some of the notes sound worse than usual. I verify this by attempting to tune these notes by turning the pin. If the block is bad the notes will slip back out of pitch almost immediately.

(Baby Grand piano showing pin block.)

    The plate is the cast iron harp, visible inside the rim of the grand piano.

    The plate has been removed from the piano (after the pins and strings have been removed).

    The plate is then sanded, primed, and repainted with a new "piano gold" paint, and sealed with a clear protective finish. When it is completed it looks like new! The photo in Set 3 of "Before and After Photos" shows an example.

(Associate, T. Dene Blakeslee, of Custom Coatings, cleans and primes a plate.)

    The tuning pins, wires, pinblock, and plate have been previously removed.  The pinblock has been sent to the factory for duplication, and the plate is in the process of being repainted.

    The soundboard is now completely accessible and will often require a great amount of work.  It must first be stripped.  Cracks must be repaired.

    There are several methods used for these repairs, depending upon the severity of the problem.

    Repairs to the bridges are made at this time. (See the next section - "Bridge Repair").

    The soundboard is refinished when all of the above repairs have been completed.

(Soundboard in the process of being stripped.)

    The bridge is the long curved strip of  wood with all of the small pins. The bridge holds the strings in their proper position and tension.  Broken or loose bridges, or with cracks running along the pin lines, are a very serious problem. Evidences of inferior bridges are weak, "muddy" or poor tone quality, inability to bring a string into clear pitch, and, in some cases, buzzing and rattling sounds.

    Bridges are replaced in the most severe cases. In most situations it is only necessary to remove the bridge pins, fill the cracks with rock-solid epoxy cement, and then replace the pins.  When done as a complete restoration these repairs are made with the plate removed. The final step is to refinish the soundboard.

(Exposed soundboard showing two bridges; one of which is broken.)

       A new pin block has been received, the holes drilled, the soundboard repaired and finished, the bridges repaired, and the plate repainted.  The pin block and plate are now reinstalled in the piano.  The next step is to repin and restring the piano.

      I gauged the diameter of each wire BEFORE removing the old ones.  I have the wire sizes diagrammed, and I replace them with new wires of the same size.  The bass wires had previously been sent to the supplier and replaced with a duplicate set of new bass wires.

      Several tunings are given after repinning and restringing the piano.

(Grand - recently restrung.  Notice how it sparkles!)

    The piano action is reconditioned. This includes all repairs.  Read the article Reconditioning (on this site) for a complete description.      This photo shows the installation of a new set of piano hammers on a spinet piano.   Installation of a new set of hammers is recommended if the hammers are well worn, if they have been filed several times already, or if the tone quality is undesirable. New hammers will improve the tone quality and come in varying shades of tone. Preferences range from mellow to bright.

(A new set of hammers is being installed.)

    In order for the restoration to be called a "COMPLETE RESTORATION", the piano must be refinished.  The piano may be rebuilt, with all of the above-described steps completed.  The rebuilding process is essential to the tone quality of the piano.  Refinishing is optional, but generally worth doing, since the piano is already in the shop.

    I use the following procedure:

    - Strip the old finish down to the bare veneer. 
    - Sand entire piano & parts with at least 3 sandpaper grades. 
    - Fill pores, if necessary. 
    - Apply two stain coats of desired stain color. 
    - Spray multiple coats of clear lacquer. 
    - Apply new fallboard and soundboard decals. 
    - Install new hardware (hinges, knobs, pedals, etc.)

(This piano was painted black.  The paint has been stripped.  This photo shows the sanding in progress.)