Yay! New Old Piano!

Seventh · Post by **Seventh** » 18 Aug 2006, 00:28

I just had my new old piano delivered today! [as you can tell, i'm still excited about it]

Now.. I know NOTHING about pianos. At all. I used to play when was in primary school, but many years have passed since then.

This one was going to be chopped up for firewood as the owners didn't have space for it any more and we rescued it for Ł25 with free delivery.[is that good? i have no idea...]

Anyway. I've been generally opening it up and having a look [i'm very nosy] - and doing some Googling about it.

It's a 1920s Nathaniel Berry upright piano. It plays okay to my untrained ear, though it needs tuning after the move. It's very battered and dusty, though the parts where the varnish isn't ruined polish up beauitfully. I'm told it's mahogany, or something similar.

It's my new 'project' and i want to clean it up and get it all snazzy etc. mostly the outside - obviously the working parts will be tuned and serviced etc by professionals.

I'm planning on sanding it all down back to the wood and then either french polishing and varnishing if the finish is nice - or painting it if it's uneven.

So my question is: are there any big Dos and Don'ts that i should know about? anything i should look out for and get checked out before i start playing with it? is there special piano paint i should get? stuff like that.

i'm a total novice and i apologise if i sound stupid. but i'll never learn unless i ask. any help?

thank you!

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 18 Aug 2006, 15:47

Happy new piano! I'd wait until the tuner's had a squint at it before you expend any serious energy/money/effort on it, because it'd be awful if s/he said that it was worthless and you'd already wrecked your nails/wallet/mental health on it. On the whole, Berry was a reliable make (I have a vague feeling that Bill Kibby worked for them, but I might be making that up) and had a few interesting quirks - some had bakelite ashtrays each end underneath the keyboard! Might take a bit of work, but usually they come round with a bit of coaxing and regular tuning as long as it hasn't been too abused in its life. Good luck!

sussexpianos · Post by **sussexpianos** » 02 Sep 2006, 16:31

Hi, the first rule is don't touch it until the profensional has had a look at it. Make sure you get a tuner/technician as some tuners just want to tune and nothing else. Sanding and refinishing is a long job and will not result in a grand looking piano.I have seen so many pianos half stripped and sanded because it became a long task. Don't forget, you will reduce the value of your piano (maybe to Ł0) if it looks diy. If you want to look after the case, clean it with warm water and liquid parafin and this will get rid of the old waxes etc and give you a brighter looking piano. The profensionals clean with soda water and revive the old finish, but I cannot give you 20 years experiance in a letter. If you are sure in having it stripped, make sure all of the finish is off and neutrilize the stripper as the new finish will not settle. good luck!