You're probably wondering how we got this lovely looking piano, or what was it that even enticed us to own such a thing. It all started when a family friend's father was walking through my parents home and noticed my mother owned three pianos. Obviously three just isn't enough because he offered her a fourth. Of course she declined, but luckily thought of me and wondered if I would be interested. My mom called me and informed me this man desperately wanted to get rid of a piano. It had been sitting in a business shop for three years. He did not play the piano, nor anyone in his family and his wife informed him it was time to get rid of it. He bought it from a man who desperately needed money. He didn't want to buy it, but felt bad for him so he gave him $100 for it. Apparently it came over across the plains and then was stored in a saloon for years. My mom inspected it and felt it had a good touch and actually sounded pretty good. It would obviously need some work, but Dayton and I love projects. Not realizing just how much work it would be, Dayton and I bought the piano for $130. We felt that this would be a good investment, especially if I could teach a few students.
As a birthday present, my parents paid for it to be moved to Logan. The piano was delivered last November by two of the biggest Tongans I have ever seen! This is an old, very solid piano and I am still impressed they were able to carry it up my steps and into my living room.
Before we went to all the work of refinishing the piano, I had Alden Jack come over and inspect the workings of the piano. He informed us it was in great condition with only a few minor repairs. He suggested key frame felt and doing a farm regulation. I also asked him to replace the black and white keys. He supplied the black keys (which were actually hard to find because they don't make them the same size anymore) and I bought the white keys on Ebay. He also did a pitch raise and tuned the piano. He did an amazing job and was so reasonable. I would recommend him for any piano work.
We weren't quite sure how we wanted to go about refinishing the piano. We went to home depot and asked around and we got about a hundred different opinions! We finally decided we would paint it black and antique it. We sanded it all down- which was by far the worst part. Dayton did about all of that for my Mother's Day gift. Best gift ever! Hunter and I came home from Salt Lake one weekend to a beautifully sanded piano.
After it was sanded, we puttied and built up a lot of the wood- There were a lot of places where entire chunks were missing. Then we started the painting process. After one coat, we decided we would sand in between coats to get rid of brush storks. We also used a paint thinner to help as well. We did a total of three coats. We took of all the major parts and worked on them in the grange and then painted the bulk of the piano inside. It was WAY to heavy to move it. We finally finished it this week and I couldn't be happier. We were a little worried, but with each coat of paint it got better. Because of the history of the piano, we thought it would be fun to antique it and we thought it would look better than trying to imitate a factory sprayed look we couldn't get. I think it turned out pretty well. I could have NEVER done this without Dayton. He is so talented and knowledgeable when it comes to these kinds of things. It was fun to work on it together after Hunter would go to bed. It will be a fun piano to have and tell our kids about. I'm sure glad it's over though. Now I just need some students!
The final product. . . .
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