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Hi all - For those of you interested in vintage upright restoration work, here's three photo sets of a job we've just finished - a 1906 Washburn upright. New finish, pins and strings, hammers, dampers, keytops, etc. A beautiful instrument that was very enjoyable to work on!

Photo Set # 1
Photo Set # 2
Photo Set # 3

These photo sets were originally done for the family, so excuse the simplified explanations. The gal who owns the piano gave me the okay to share the photos with others. Back in the day when I was just beginning to work on pianos and dreaming of having a shop of my own, this is the type of work I would have loved to have read about, so I hope it is of interest to some of you.

Hoping you are all doing well and keeping busy doing as much work as you can handle! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them. Chuck Behm

Chuck - These photos are great!

As a pianist, this was fun to see and to be able to study all of the great work you have done.

Thank You!

Well, thank you for posting. Indeed I have a question for you (or anyone for that matter) . Assuming a complete refinish as you have done, what wood filler do you like to use to fill gouges and small holes in the veneer, and at what stage of the process do you insert it?

If I apply hole filler in the early stages (before any application of tinting to the wood), I can sand and finish it smoothly, but the color is hit and miss.

If I to were apply it later in the process (and I typically don't) I would not have the opportunity to sand the filled area smooth (because I would wear away the adjacent stained areas), but I could get the color right on the filler by tinting as desired. Of course, without complete refinishing, people just fill a hole and get to spatula smooth (minimal sanding for adhesion of subsequent lacquer), then spray a coat of lacquer, but I'm wondering if there is a better way.

I'm typically using the Mohawk materials and process on restoration pieces (I am not a pro).

What hole filler material (brand/product) do you use and what stage of the process do you insert it?

Best regards-

Dear Phacke - We use lacquer stick for very small gouges and imperfections. With anything of any size, we cut veneer to match and fill with that.

Lacquer stick does not take stain, so the color you use will be the color it will end up as, therefore you must go by what the finished color of the piano will be. We apply it with a burn in knife to the sanded unstained wood. It will obviously be much darker than the surrounding wood initially, but once you stain the piano, it will blend in. For most pianos, we use Minwax's red mahogany stain, and there's one shade of lacquer stick that matches perfectly. For other colors, we use other shades of lacquer stick.

For more information on using lacquer stick check this link for an article from the Journal that I wrote in 2009. If you would like to read the whole series on refinishing that I wrote, click here and scroll down to the first segment, which appeared in August, 2008.

If you do happen to read the series from beginning to end, post back - I've made a few refinements to the final process that we use for applying our finish that I'll be glad to reveal which really make for a beautiful job.

Thanks for writing - I hope this will be useful information for you. Chuck

WOW! That is impressive! Thanks for posting! I was most impressed with the carving to repair the missing leaves on the front.

Hi Ryan - Thanks for writing. Carving leaves (the correct term is "foliage," I've learned) is a lot of fun, but I'm just a beginner in learning the techniques involved. If you want to take a look at what's possible check this link out. Scroll down and click on the photos at the bottom of the page. As Frank Barone (from "Everyone Loves Raymond") would say: "Holy crap!" Humbling, to say the least! Like comparing a game of T-ball, to a major league baseball game.

That being said, it's exciting beginning to learn a new process, especially when mastery of the process is light years from the starting point - which is where I'm at. Gives you a long term goal that will be out in front of you for a long, long time. Such goals give a purpose to life, and gives one humility. Chuck

Chuck,

Absolutely fantastic craftsmanship - WOW! So, a question or two: How long did the job take, start to finish? And how many man-hours were put in? I can't even imagine trying to quote a job like that - good grief . . .

Hi Jim - Dave and I used to keep track of our hours in order to split up the proceeds equitably. Upright refurbishing jobs such as this would range from 200 - 400 hours of work to complete, depending on what needed to be done.

For the past few years, however, we don't keep timesheets, but instead divide up the jobs to be done. On this one, Dave did the refinishing and repinning/restringing and keytops. I installed the hammers, dampers, etc. and did the final regulating and tuning. Each job is priced beforehand, so we know (and the customer knows) what the total dollar amount is going to be going in. I'm still tuning 20 - 25 pianos a week, so my time in the shop is more limited than Dave's, who hung up his tuning hammer a couple years ago.

We both find greater serenity in this approach. We focus on craftsmanship, not getting the piano in and out of the shop as quickly as possible. Although earning an income is important, obviously, the rewards of the job go far beyond the monetary aspect. In fact, I hardly ever think of the money involved. Seeing the transformation in the pianos we do from beginning to end is what I love.

You know, I've often thought that if there is indeed a heaven, give me a little piano shop sitting along side a lake jumping with walleyes and bass, and I'll gladly spend eternity there. Oh, and everyday on the calendar would be Saturday.

Thanks for writing, Jim. Hope things are going well on your end as well. Chuck

Thanks for sharing the pictures. The attention to detail is impressive.

I'm curious about the decal. Is that a Decals Unlimited product?

Hi David - All our decals are from Decals Unlimited. They have most every decal we need, and they get them out quick when I call (I've got them on my phone as number 9 on speed-dial). A quality product. The only time we had a situation where it didn't work was when we (read that Dave) forgot to remove the tissue paper, and burnished the decal to the tissue, not the fallboard. I've never let him forget, so that when I do something stupid I've got that to fall back on if he gives me a hard time. Chuck

I think more people should go back to this way of thinking regarding taking pride in craftsmanship over the monetary aspect. It is a major problem in this trade today. We spend 100's of hours on projects and frankly lose track of time but the end result is worth it.

Money is okay but the rewards are far greater which usually results in never having to worry about an empty shop and where the next dollar is coming in from.

Dave works every morning, 8 til noon. He doesn't wear a watch and when I'm in the shop as well, I'll tell him when it's about 10 til noon, so he can wrap things up for the morning before Judy arrives in their van to pick him up. His most common response is, "Already?!" Time flies, as they say, when you're having fun. Chuck

Thank you, Chuck, an inspiration - as always.

Very nice!!!

Very nice Chuck!! Thank you for sharing this its very useful for those who're learning... I'm refinishing an small pianino from 1860's with rosewood, damn I didn't knew how hard is the rosewood to be finished if I want a high glossy result with shellac... about 70 layers with a full sanding each 3 layers, in order get a free-porus surface (With two layers of pumice to fill the porus) ... !!! sometimes I ask myself how did XIXth century factories to do his whole production with those varnishes!!!

Thanks!:

Lluís.

The first piano I ever bought was a Washburn, from about 1917. It was a good piano. An interesting thing about it, which I have only seen on other Lyon & Healy pianos, is that the bass bridge pins were offset in one direction for the bichords and the opposite direction for the unisons. That does not seem to be the case with this piano.

Hello Mr. Behm,

Thank you for your comments and your links. Indeed, that is key - having a stain (or tint solution) compatible with and non-absorbing in the filler. I did not see an actual product trade name/brand in your article nor your message. Of course there are a number of filler stick materials on the market that soften with heat, some thermoplastic-like, some thermoset-like.

Is this what you had in mind (can't find a maker's name for this product hereeither), but this is what comes up when I search "Lacquer Sticks."

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishi....html?actn=100101&xst=1&xsr=0866

And, have you confirmed that it (the filler you are using) does not continuously shrink over the years or discolor excessively with moderate (indirect) interior natural sun light?

Best regards -

Chuck Behm, thank you for your restoration and that you created nice intresting photo album. I hope it is not only I'm get an aesthetic pleasure considering the details of the family piano
We all would like to hear the sounds of the piano in the future
Good luck!

We shall to pray about it. Let it is made far less time than you dream

As usual thepics are first class.

Thanks for providing.

Luuis the pumice is to be used until no more grain remains, if not you will be adding shellac forever without closing the grain.
Rosewood is the longer to close. IF you want to do as old furnitune builders you use pumice, and alchool (made yellowish with some shellac to make a binder - if your rubber get gummy go back to pure alcohol for some rubbers)
DO it every day until the pore is closed. then wait 8 days.

good eyes are necessary

There is a faster version where the pumice is inserted in a coat of shellac, but it is less transparent and also not really easy to do.

hard rubbers are used to close the grain, cotton wadding with a wool shoe or cotton "ouate"

much pressure -no oil

the pumice take +- the color of the wood in the French method.

Size could be done with rabbit skin, but I never did.

Modern process : bottom coat : poliurethane garnishing lack