Piano Story

[Randy Adams]

In 1979 I was looking for an open back banjo. They weren't easy to find in those days. I'd been playing a resonator model and I just knew I'd be happier with the sound of an open back. I would periodically check the pawn shops. Once when I was in a pawn shop another customer heard me ask about a banjo and he said "check at Lincoln Piano and Instrument, they have one."

I made a beeline for Lincoln Piano & Instrument and there it was; the banjo I had dreamed about. A turn of the century Dobson. $175 and needed work. Way more money than I had.

I looked around the piano shop and there were dozens of pianos in various states of disrepair. Player pianos, grands, old square grands, uprights of every make and model.

It was wintertime and we don't do much concrete work in the cold. I asked the owner, Orlin Schwab, if he needed help working on the pianos, looked like he was swamped, and he said he did. It was a life changing moment. I worked for him full time for the next 7 years, part time for another couple until he died. He became like a father to me. Taught me how to use tools, (yeah I had to start there!) how to repair stringed instruments and most importantly how to rebuild, refinish and tune pianos. Piano tuners/rebuilders from all over the area came to the shop for supplies and advice from Orlin and I got a priceless education. I still take care of a few pianos around town. 

About 20 years ago I was in London Stringed Instruments and Dale London, knowing I had worked at Lincoln Piano & Instrument, showed me a piano sitting along his wall. It was a concert grand, a nine footer. He said a friend of his had left it five years previous and he wanted it out of his shop, said I ought to buy it and fix it up. So I did buy it and have stored it ever since.

Since it is wintertime now and I need a project my son Bill and I moved it out of storage and set it up in the shop. It is in all around good shape but it needs to be refinished and frame off rebuilt. I have work for the next month! This is going to be fun.

 

[john p]

Wow, very impressed with your workshop. Wish I had somewhere like that, save me turning the flat into a shed

We used a mobile/demountable gantry and chain blocks for most heavy lifting on site, but there are times when there isn't the headroom and the engine hoist comes into it's own. Do you use different colours for pairs of blocks in the US. According to our regs. you should never have to say left or right, only ever blue and orange.

I'd probably have used a lump of 3x3 as a spreader to take the squeeze off the frame, but I was always 'belt and braces' as we say here.

[Randy Adams]

John...A man lift is called a cherry picker here also......multi-use slang!

I had no idea where the balance point on the harp might be. My first attempt at rigging it was too far rearward.  In the pic I was too close to the far side and front side but I had enough lift to clear the case. The rear side I had to lift the harp to clear but only 20 lbs. or so.

One of the favorite things I've ever built is this overhead I-beam with chain hoist. It spans the width of the shop, 40', and is useful from time to time. Of course the object to be lifted has to be mobile for positioning and the piano isn't.

 

[john p]

Enjoying this Randy.

Over here in the UK a cherry picker is an elevating work platform rather than a hoist. In fact you're not supposed to use a cherry picker as a hoist at all, but of course, people do.
Nice bit of slinging too, the secret of any succesful lift.

Both very useful pieces of kit though, I've used an engine hoist to take the cannons off their carriages when we had to move some old naval guns

[Patty from Virginia]

Randy, my husband saw your pictures. When he saw the lift (engine hoist) he knew what that was. He liked to work on cars in his younger days and has pulled an engine. I'm so glad you are sharing this with us. My daughter did a research paper on the piano, an instrument she loves to play. We're all looking forward to your progress pictures and the final product.

[Randy Adams]

I bet they are about the same weight Patty. You know what a cherry picker is used for!

[Patty from Virginia]

How much does that cast iron harp weigh? I wonder which is easier, lifting that out or a V8 engine?

[Randy Adams]

I got all the strings off today. I measured the thickness of the treble strings all the way down the scale so I know what gauge strings the original builder used. I have the bass strings packaged up and ready to mail to Schaff Piano Co. in Chicago so they can duplicate them.

This isn't going to be a daily blog. Disassembly is easier and faster than assembly! I have the piano taken apart and can now begin working on it step by step. Tomorrow I'll start refinishing the case.

I also removed the cast iron harp today. Here is a picture of it during the lifting.

[Carrie Barnes]

Randy, used to have one of these in my shop in TN.  Loved it, and kept things nice an toasty!  Robin, I remember that as well!  

[Robin Thompson]

Hey, Randy, it's cool to see that double barreled stove.  I'm thinking I first saw about such a thing in Mother Earth News back in the '80's.  Pretty neat. 

[Dave Rogers]

Love the smell of a wood fire, especially in the fresh, cool winter air!

dave