The professional movers arrive at the home of an old, beautiful grand piano that has not moved from its designated spot in 53 years. The moving crew takes great care packing the piano and securing its place in the moving van. Down the road it goes.
Upon arrival at our shop, the piano is checked in, its parts, including the strings and plate, are removed, tagged and catalogued. The piano cabinet is placed upon a specialized cart which then heads to one of the refinishing rooms where the first order of business is to remove the old finish. This is a very exciting part of the refinishing process as we see for the first time, the piano cabinet's true surface. With the cracked and clouded finish finally and completely removed, we then apply the new finish.
While the cabinet is in the refinishing room, our highly skilled technicians perform the necessary repairs -- new hammers, felts, etc. -- to the piano's action. In an area close by, the plate is refinished and as the cabinet emerges dry from the spray booth, decals are applied.
Next, the repaired and rebuilt parts are reunited with the newly refinished cabinet. Its reassembly includes the newly rebuilt action, new strings, new screws and the anticipation of hearing the piano make sound. Once back in working order, the piano then moves to yet another room where a technician can take some time to thoroughly test the piano. At this stage, the technician makes adjustments, raises the pitch, and tunes until the piano "finds its voice" and sounds its best.
Testing, testing and more testing. Piano technicians often talk of this stage of the process as "breaking in the piano," where the newly rebuilt piano is subjected to a measured degree of activity to allow the new strings time to do some initial stretching, to season the piano enough so the proper pitch and tuning can be held. Screws can be retightened as the last finishing touches are made.
When the piano has been thoroughly tested and deemed ready for departure, we secure the piano in soft safety wrap to ensure a gentle journey back to its new and musical life.
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Let us help turn the clock back on your beloved piano. We repair, rebuild and restore grand and baby grand pianos exclusively.
Call the piano shop and speak with Michael Sweeney personally.
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