Sooo... I think when we last left off that a) I admitted I was an idiot for for ever even contemplating this, b) the piano had been bought and brought home, and c) I posted a disclaimer (which if you haven't read, please do before you flame me over any part of this endeavor) about exactly what I was trying to do - or not. as the case may be.
So now, let's talk about what we've got here.
Forget the upside-down stool, that's a whole separate story. In general, given the age and forgetting the actual musical condition of the piano, this thing is in fairly good shape.
I've already mentioned the one piano leg hat completely fell off when we were initially looking at it. That didn't change once we got it home - in fact, during transportation, I just removed it. Looking at the picture above, it would be the one on the left side. Lift up the piano, it falls off.
The one on the right side is not much better. Yes, it screws into the keyboard bed and will stay there if lifted up, but that's about the best you can say about it. If I had to rely on it holding up the weight of the piano, well. let's just say I wouldn't place a whole lot of money on that happening and having a happy ending.
Here are the other defects I found, once I started looking (and/or stopped being infatuated with the idea of a piano of this age and artristy)...
First off, there's a lovely water stain on the top of the piano. The entire top of the piano looks like it's been rode hard and put away wet - but this particular part was DEFINITELY put away wet. and stayed that way. The top is going to have to be refinished.
Second, there are chips and gaps in the veneer. This is to be expected, but I'm still going to have to do something about it...
Third, the keys are in horrendous condition - yellow is to be expected, Caked-on dirt is something entirely different. Luckily, picture not withstanding, almost all of them are not chipped.
There's also a goodly stain on the right side of the piano. It looks like a water stain, but how it got to be on a vertical piece of the piano, I have no idea. Regardless, it will have to be dealt with...
Then there's the pedals - of which there are only two - but they are wooden, not your garden variety metal type. The one on the left is in good condition, but the one on the right looks permanently depressed. Personally, I haven't reached that stage, permanently depressed, at this point - but I do see a hell of a lot of work to do... And I have no idea what a permanently depressed pedal might mean.
And, finally, there's a crack in what appears to be the veneer across the top of the sound board. This one doesn't look like a show-stopper, but it's still a defect. Probably something that can be ignored - unless someone with expertise reads this and says it can't.
And that's it. Not perfect, but far from bad considering the age and wear on this thing.
I think, excluding the relative musicitivty (no such word, I know), this current piece of furniture is not in such bad shape - I've seen much worse. My main concern at this point are the legs - they need to be stable and I'm pretty sure there's glue in their future, which means they will not be removable in the future. Certainly not the way they were designed to be...
Secondarily, is the wood finish itself. The water stains, especially the one on the top, will mean sanding and refinishing. I've refinished furniture before, but in paint. Strip it, stain the highlights, paint the rest. Refinishing this correctly means restaining and the re-doing the finish. Not easily done in a a garage.
But all-in-all, I haven't seen anything yet that makes me want to put this thing in curb and see if anyone other than the garbage man wants it.
But... that's just the outside. Haven't looked to see what lurks (or is growing) inside this thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment