Initial Key Cleaning Completed

All the important missing action parts have been ordered for Xena, the 1883 Schubert upright undergoing rehab. In addition, all new hammers, damper felts are on the way. The piano supply company shipped three days later than promised; but it's just as well. I'm using the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend to focus on the keys. And I'll need it! I just spent close to 10 hours giving them their initial cleaning taking off years of dirt.

With all the gross dirt gone, I can now see what I'm facing over the rest of the weekend.

My client made an early decision that he wanted to save the old ivory keys rather than put in a shiny new replacement set. Aesthetically for the age of the piano I think it's the correct decision. However, after removing the first layer of dirt, it's clear that the ivories have aged unevenly. It's a larger job than I'd envisioned. They are discolored significantly and have a large number of blotchy yellow spots. My next step will be to polish out them out with diatomaceous earth to see if I can even them out. The sharps actually look pretty good -- real ebony I'm suspecting -- so I may not have to relacquer them as I'd originally thought. Lose one, gain one.

After the polishing is done 14 key tops are missing and/or damaged so I'll be able to put to good use the old ivory tops I was able to find back in September. There are also 7 key fronts that need to be removed. My plan there is to use the material from the damaged key tops, cut it to size for the fronts and replace those. Only one sharp key needs to be reglued so that's very good news. By the time I get all this done, it'll probably be Monday. Hopefully, the UPS shipment will arrive by then so I can start working on the action.

The clock is ticking on the Christmas delivery; but if I can stay focused I think I'll have it done with a week to spare! If anyone is reading this, wish me luck. :)

Stay tuned for the Sunday evening and/or Monday update.

Getting down with Xena

Today has been one of those quiet productive days in the cottage. There's been a thunderstorm about every hour on the hour so the temptation to run errands has been nearly non-existent. The cats hate thunderstorms so they're hiding -- one under the bed, the other in a cupboard. No interruptions there. And -- up until now no computer -- the lighting strikes were so close I'd powered everything down and pulled plugs to protect all the electronics. Nothing to do but finally get to work on Xena.

Today's major accomplishment was unpacking all the tools & parts that came in, setting up the new jig so I can work on Xena. Photos of the action were made and sent with inquiries to the supply houses. I'm pretty sure I know what needs doing--or not (better to leave certain things alone) -- but a second opinion from the folks who do it every day isn't going to hurt. And, probably will save time, effort and money in the long run.

Another accomplishment of the week was locating the old ivories needed for Xena's multiple gaps and gashes in her keyboard. After several fruitless inquiries Roger Aycock in Georgia gave me a lead on some folks in South Carolina. "We often just send the keys to a lady in Florida who makes jewelry out of them," related Danny of Boggs Piano Service http://boggspiano.com/index.html Apparently, they restore enough old pianos where the owners don't want the old ivories to have a small supply on hand. One source I'd contacted wanted $45 per head so I didn't know what to expect...only $1 each! "After all they're used," said Danny. They even shipped them before getting the check from me. Those ivories should be arriving early this week so I can begin working on the keyboard while waiting to get my parts quotes from the various suppliers.