First, when cleaning the plate I avoided doing a lacquer wash in that area. Similarly, I was careful when sanding the plate not to touch the area of the decal. In masking them off, the problem was that they were oval shaped and, of course, the masking had to conform to the outer shape. I could tell that there was a clear coat over the decals as one concern was that if I had covered them with tape I might pull them up when I removed the tape. That not being the case I covered them with some clear tape and then very carefully cut the tape around the outer edges of the decal. I needed to use the clear tape so that I could see exactly where the edge was. I was very cautious in that area when spraying the lacquer to use very light coats and build them up slowly so that the lacquer would not bleed underneath the edges of the tape or, worse, dissolve the tape. Once I had enough coats I removed the tape and then clear coated the area over the decal and the new gold. Except for some wear on the original decal in a couple of areas you can hardly tell that they weren’t replaced. I considered using a resist of some type over the decal but wanted in the end to clear coat the whole thing to better preserve them. Using a resist (like Vaseline) ran the risk of the clear coat not adhering so I opted for this method. Slightly risky with the danger of pulling up the decal but I was careful not to press the tape down other than around the boarder where I needed a good seal. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com How did you save the decals? Many years ago, a friend who restores cars, told me to cover the decal that I wanted to save with petroleum jelly, spray the plate and then wipe off the jelly. It worked. The piano is long gone, so I don't know how the decal held up. Barbara Richmond, RPT near Peoria, Illinois
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