Help me avoid doing any damage

[Farrell]

Dear Paul: I agree with all that Robert posted. To answer your questions
specifically: The original finish is almost always lacquer. 80 years is
plenty to make this lacquer in very poor condition. If you wish to refinish,
either paint it a solid color over the existing finish (yuk! did I say
that?), or strip it down to bare wood. Complete stripping is the first step
to possibly get a nice finish. And regarding your $1000 fee for refinishing
a piano. Here in Tampa, fees for complete refinishing of small (less than
six foot) grand pianos runs $2000 to $3000.

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Goodale" <rrg@nevada.edu>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2001 3:23 PM
Subject: Re: Help me avoid doing any damage


> Sir,
>
> Judging by the nature of your post I would speculate that you are not a
> technician, but rather an enthusiastic amateur who wants to go the "do it
> yourself" route.  Please DO NOT take this personally, but from your
description
> I'd say what you have here is an 800 pound paper weight.  Old players are
> primarily from the 1920s era and rarely require anything less than a
complete
> restoration to make them pianos again.  With the player system removed it
is
> worth even less, probably next to nothing.  The only exception might be if
it
> happens to be a Steinway, Mason & Hamlin, or other notable brand that
would
> sustain some of it's value.  I would not waste my time on it.  Just to be
> absolutely certain I would encourage you to have a local tech come and
take a
> look see.   Unfortunately the "grandmother hand-me-down" piano is a very
common
> tale.  I have had many clients go through hours of intense work stripping
down
> and refinishing their piano.  Then they call me to "tune it".  What I find
is
> an action that is so deteriorated it is unserviceable, a sound board with
more
> cracks in it then a California fault line, strings more rusted than an
Iowa
> cattle fence, and about as much crown as a sheet of glass.  (Pardon me
while I
> wax poetic here, I just couldn't help it).  In other words what they have
is a
> "really pretty paper weight."
>
> I'm not trying to discourage you, if you feel it is worth it to YOU than
go for
> it, just beware of what you are getting yourself into.  Good Luck.
>
> Rob Goodale, RPT
> Las Vegas, NV
>
>
>
> Paul Archibald wrote:
>
> > Techs -
> >
> > My wife's grandmother is giving us her old piano, a turn of the century
> > player without the player mechanism. It is also has the ugliest finish
ever
> > applied, some sort of "antique" type thing. Ug. Anyhow, as we can't
really
> > afford $1000 to refinish the piano, I am going to have a go at it.
>
>