The Refurbishing Process
Refurbishing: Keys
Keytop replacement
Yes, the above photos are the same piano. Most of our pianos arrive with badly yellowed, chipped, and scratched keytops. The old keytops are removed and new keytops are glued on with PVC-E glue. Then a router is used to remove overhanging keytop material. The edges are then hand filed and sanded with fine grit sandpaper for a factory-new look.
Keyframe and keysticks
The top left photo shows that there is much more to a key than the part you see when you sit at the piano. Each key see-saws on a nickel plated pin called the "balance rail pin." Each key is kept from moving side to side by the "front rail pin." The pins are seated in a rectangular structure called the "keyframe." Cloth punchings are used to dampen noise and provide cushioning. It is essential to a smooth feeling keyboard that none of these interaction points have any corrosion or excessive wear, so we always replace all the cloth punchings and aggressively polish or replace the pins.
Sometimes there is excessive wear in the slots within the keys where the pins fit (called "key mortises"). In that case, those slots are "rebushed" with new felt.
The result of all this is a keyboard with no rubbing, binding. or hanging up. Each key feels identically smooth and even with its neighbors.
Key leveling and spacing
Punchings with thicknesses of as little as three-thousanths of an inch are added to the balance rail pins in order to level the key height (before and after pics above). The goal is keys that are so level that you can close your eyes, slide your finger across the keyboard, and feel no difference from one key to the next. Spacing between keys is achieved by gently bending the front rail pins so that the gap between keys is identical all across the keyboard.
>>>Next: Refurbishing Action
Keytop replacement
Yes, the above photos are the same piano. Most of our pianos arrive with badly yellowed, chipped, and scratched keytops. The old keytops are removed and new keytops are glued on with PVC-E glue. Then a router is used to remove overhanging keytop material. The edges are then hand filed and sanded with fine grit sandpaper for a factory-new look.
Keyframe and keysticks
The top left photo shows that there is much more to a key than the part you see when you sit at the piano. Each key see-saws on a nickel plated pin called the "balance rail pin." Each key is kept from moving side to side by the "front rail pin." The pins are seated in a rectangular structure called the "keyframe." Cloth punchings are used to dampen noise and provide cushioning. It is essential to a smooth feeling keyboard that none of these interaction points have any corrosion or excessive wear, so we always replace all the cloth punchings and aggressively polish or replace the pins.
Sometimes there is excessive wear in the slots within the keys where the pins fit (called "key mortises"). In that case, those slots are "rebushed" with new felt.
The result of all this is a keyboard with no rubbing, binding. or hanging up. Each key feels identically smooth and even with its neighbors.
Key leveling and spacing
Punchings with thicknesses of as little as three-thousanths of an inch are added to the balance rail pins in order to level the key height (before and after pics above). The goal is keys that are so level that you can close your eyes, slide your finger across the keyboard, and feel no difference from one key to the next. Spacing between keys is achieved by gently bending the front rail pins so that the gap between keys is identical all across the keyboard.
>>>Next: Refurbishing Action