Furlough and Filling In the Cracks

Aah! The month of December is upon us as well as that first fresh blanket of snow.  The perfect time to return from my designated furlough months.  One may dream, right? Designated or not, it is time to buckle down and get back to work.

The trouble recently, I am finding to be, is finding a wood filler that actually does its job.  I bought something called Miracle Wood Filler from the local hardware store (pictured left).  Notice, if you take a good look at the can, in quotes it says, "The One That Takes The Stain." Well, truth be told, there is nothing miraculous about this wood filler.  The slogan ought to be changed to, "The One That Takes ON The Stain." It put up one heck of a fight when I tried to stain it, and to my great disappointment, it won.  Strike one!

The job it did filling in the crack actually was not all that bad.  In fact, the pine pulp they used to make the wood filler would have blended in great with the wood of the piano, if the piano was made out of bare plywood.  Strike two!

Finally, after mine and the wood filler's disagreements were behind us, the wood filler just up and left.  That is, to say, after it dried fully, it shrunk, dislodged itself from the crack, and fell entirely out of the wood and onto the floor.  Talk about a foul-up.  Strike three! You're outta here! On the plus side, it did save me the trouble of having to dig it out of there...

In conclusion, pass this brand of wood filler up, unless your plywood work bench needs a few touch-ups.

A Cure for Veneer

Why did I not think of this before? Instead of buying new veneer, why not patch it with pieces from the current veneer? There is a particular piece of veneer from underneath the piano, which would never be noticed, in place or not, which would be perfect to cut patches from! What a dope I am.

An Unfortunate Veneer Disease

At least each piece of veneer covering the piano cabinet has some type of gouge, chip, or peeling. Some of the chips could be filled in with a wood putty, but I think some of the more obvious gouges are going to need some patchwork veneer for the best finish.

By examining the wood against various types of wood grains, I think I've decided that the veneer is probably made of a ribbon stripe African mahogany. Unfortunately, most places seem to offer only 4'x8', or larger, sheets of veneer, and most small sheets are about 1/16" thick.

So, until I acquire some, keep your eyes peeled! (Because I know you're all shopping for veneer.)

My First Job as a Stripper

I don't really know where to start, but since I am at my apartment right now and it just so happens I have the front top board with me...

Pictured left is the front top board (FTB), bottom, and lid lock board (LLB), which is resting on top. I disassembled the LLB to find two felt strips running the length of the underside, where it was attached to the FTB. It is easy to see the original finish, where the felt was resting, and the patina.

Since I have decided to go ahead and completely refinish the entire lid, might as well start stripping down the FTB. First, my apartment will need a litle protection. I covered the wood floor and kitchen table with their own plastic dropcloths. I found my feet were getting stuck to the dropcloth, so socks were, sadly, required with my outfit of crummy old clothes. When shopping for gloves, I found that they were only sold in large or extra large. But, solid rubber and latex gloves are too hot anyway. I found some gardening gloves in a smaller size, which were made of a durable cotton and dipped in a similar rubber/latex coating. And lastly to prevent excessive heart palpataions and fainting, I set up two box fans for good measure.

Now that I was somewhat protected, I needed some chemicals, tools, and cleaning supplies. Various websites recommended any semi-paste stripper containing methylene chloride, claiming it removes just about anything. I purchased the brand Strip-X, which seems to be a name brand, was also the least expensive, and had the highest methylene chloride content. Natural fiber paint brushes were easy to find and cheap. I looked for wooden scrapers, but no place seems to carry them, so I found some plastic scrapers which I could easily round the edges for added scratch protection. Lastly, I picked up some 00# steel wool and laquer thinner to remove any remnants of stripper or the topcoat.

I am now ready to begin my first stripping job! I applied stripper to the entire underside of the FTB and waited the 20-30 minutes Strip-X recommended. With my scraper in hand, I begin to do the dirty work, but instead of scraping off nicely, I found the finish and stripper had turned to gum and was impossible to get off. First lesson learned: Do not follow directions! A little confused, I decided to reapply a little stripper to a smaller area. Within seconds I scraped away the old stripper and topcoat. I continued down the FTB in this manner and was done in about half an hour.

After stripping the underside of the FTB, I washed down the area with laquer thinner to remove any remnants of finish and stripper. The actual wood is very nice looking, and the stain is still beautiful. Most of the major scratches came out with the finish, and I decided against sanding the bare wood, especially since this is veneer and not solid wood. For now, my work here is done! Pictured below is the original patina in rough shape (left) on one side of the FTB, and the stripped side (right).

Piano Anatomy Lesson: Exibit A

If you ever need a reference picture when I am talking about a specific piece of the Apollo, please use this diagram. (Click to enlarge, opens in new window.)

Complete or Partial Restoration?

Due to the amount of funding, limited availability of original parts, and skill it would require to restore the Apollo to original showroom condition, I have decided to do only a partial restoration. What does this mean? Fundamentally, I'm going to clean the piano, fix any mechanical issues, and refinish areas of the cabinet. Will this actually happen? Hopefully. Will this greatly detract from the value of the piano? You bet! But, since this piano will probably remain mine personally, I'm not too worried about the value.

The piano has a large number of scratches, carvings (thanks, Beth, whoever you are), dings, dents, and gouges in the veneer, primarily on the top board, or lid. Simply cleaning the finish up isn't going to make it look any nicer, so I have opted to completely refinish this area. Mechanically speaking, there is very little to do. Two keys are functioning incorrectly, which will be diagnosed later when the action is removed. As for the rest of the piano, just some vacuuming, dusting, and general cleaning of the cabinet should do the trick. (Pictures of the piano in original condition to follow, soon.)

A Brief (Rough) History

Around 1900, Melville Clark of Story and Clark Piano and Organ Company decided to turn his focus toward player pianos and ended his partnership with Hampton Story. He founded the Melville Clark Piano Company in DeKalb, Illinois, which produced a variety of piano players, player pianos, and pianos. In 1919, a year after Clark's death, and in due time since 1919 marked the height of the piano's popularity in the US, the Melville Clark Piano Company was bought by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, which produced Apollo pianos until 1939.

According to the Bluebook of Pianos, this particular Apollo piano was built between 1916-1918, one of the last Apollo pianos manufactured by the Meville Clark Piano Company. (One of the vital numbers in the serial code is worn away but reads either 28392 or 38392.)

Introduction

This blog is dedicated to recording the progress of partial restoration to my Apollo baby grand piano. I purchased the Apollo in the spring of 2009 for $200 from an ad on Craigslist, mostly on a whim. The piano had already been waiting in a woodshop to be restored, but the shop had been foreclosed on and the Apollo forgotten. The man who had later purchased the shop explained that the piano's original owner information was unattainable and that he wanted it gone ASAP.

The Apollo certainly wasn't much to look at especially being partially disassembled, but sounded great and was in overall excellent working condition. The man didn't seem to think his piano was worth much save his big selling point - the grand piano dolly. He explained that the dolly was worth a whopping $400, but he would sell it to me for half price. I did not argue nor try bargaining, it was already a steal. I paid him cash, and with a little help, came to pick the piano and dolly up within the following days.