State of the Piano 7/9/2012

I just wanted to shoot a quick video to document the piano before I did too much work on it. I did attempt some basic tunings like setting a temperament and tuning unisons. The Eb above middle C broke on the slightest of adjustments. So that will need to be replaced. I will be getting the gauge of it soon and replacing the string. I will attempt to document that process.

Tools of the Trade

So I got my tools in the mail. It feels kind of old school getting a set of tools like this in the mail, it would've been more old school if they would've come from a paper catalogue, but anywho.

Just a quick aside, I doctored the photo up with instagram. I'm going to try to keep this blog looking sweet old school (although I know everything is being "Instagrammed" right now).

Anywho, the tools! Got me a nice Shaff extending hammer, pretty good weight at that. Got a variety of rubber mutes. Set came with an A440 tuning fork, orderd a C523.3 as well, it really rings. In the very top left corner of the photo you can see some red felt, thats the Temperament strip. Looking forward to trying that out. Also got a Paps Mute we'll see what that does but I've seen a lot of people using them and they looked cool. Last but not least they threw in a canvas baggy thing. I will probably take a video tonight or tomorrow night of the current state of the piano before I get to far into trying to tune Maybel.

Cleaning the Keys

First is first....maybe because it was one of the easier things I could do. Some of the bass keys and some of the treble had tape residue on them from being labeled A-G# for students. Most of this had already been removed but there were still a few that remained.

I first tried some heavy duty Goo Chewer, but it did more damage than good. It whitened and put dips in the keys. I then tried WD-40, much to no avail. I almost forgot I also tried Nutella thinking it might help with the oils, no luck.

The final solution came by way of a XACTO knife with a squared edge blade. It took a little time but the results were great. I think I will eventually put new keytops on each of the keys but this was a fund project for the first day.

Next project...cleaning some surface rust off of the pins and coils....

Pianos, Blogs, Etc.

To whom it may concern/interest,

I've purchased a piano. I've also started a blog. Before today, I've had blogs and I've had a weighted keyboard but both of these things are different. In this entry I'll go over why exactly I bought a piano, why I'm starting the blog and the history of this piano.

I've decided to take up piano tuning, I have a lot to learn and I'm not sure if I'll even like it. I've always been interested in pianos and mechanical things. For some reason up until this point, I haven't put the two things together. Beyond the actual tuning of a piano, I am very interested in the restoration of pianos. What you can't see in this picture all to well is the condition of the piano, I will go into that in more detail later. Overall it is in pretty good condition, rough on the outside but the mechanics are in good shape.

Now as to why the blog. I've blogged before mostly on personal stuff, but I thought it would be neat to chronicle the "restoration" of the piano. It won't be anything tremendous but cleaning the keys, cleaning the case, cleaning some surface rust off of the tuning pins and some other things. I will document these so that others might see what worked and what didn't.

The piano, which my wife and I have named "Maybel", is originally from a Pittsburgh area school. A couple with 2 children from Brentwood acquired it and since November of last year it was sitting on their front porch. Luckily the winter was a mild one. You might be able to note in the picture that the front board under the keys is much lighter. This piece has been replaced by the previous owner.