Saks 5th avenue rocketman project for their showroom window Beverly Hills CA 1st day of disassembly

Saks 5th avenue Shell project baking in the sun , done in high gloss Toyota superwhite automotive paint

Saks 5th avenue showroom window for the movie Rocketman premier , Beverly Hills CA. Shipped Fed Ex Overnight , set up with a tiny access door into this space of 18 inches wide.

Claws TV show concert grand project on a super tight 7 day timeline including shipping.

Claws TV show piano being assembled before crating

claws TV show piano with the lid on prior to crating . the timeline was so tight we had to crate this while the epoxy paint was still curing and ship it set up like this.

1908 Knabe upright with a really bad DIY stripping job. We decided to just paint it red

1908 Knabe done in high gloss red

1930's 7 foot WW Kimball which was rebuilt but had a trashed cabinet.

Same 1930's Kimball after 100's of hours of block sanding the cabinet. Refinished in High Gloss Black with New key covers and 1890's Knabe legs, scratch built matching Lyre. Set up in it's new home.

1908 Story & Clark all finished up with new clear shellac, new bass strings.

Betsy Ross Spinet Refinished in Mahogany, this could be described as a faux finish since the wood was a paint grade non stainable, we dyed the wood first then stained it. Several coats of satin clear, polished brass etc. huge difference

Another shot showing the bench we tracked down which matches the legs.

1920's era weber 6 ft grand that we had in the showroom shown here stripped down getting ready to be sanded

Same Weber grand set up at the customers home. While they didn't want an all out refinish we did apply an old school 3 stage poly finish in which the last coat is handrubbed with steel wool & paste wax

1951 Hobart which was trashed when it came in. We are refinishing it for a client

Same 51 Hobart after being refinished in a medium walnut with Mohawk Buffcote Clear

1960 baldwin in dated oak

Same Bradbury refinished with new keycovers, two toned dark walnut panels with high build lacquer, Satin Ebony is Nitrocellulose lacquer, which is what we have now changed to from our older finishes, extremely durable.

1960 baldwin with new satin black finish, new foil decal and key covers. Sharp !

1885 Kranich which was shot mechanically, shown here we are doing a digital conversion on it. Piano had to be stretched 3 inches length-wise to fit the keyboard

Finished Henry Miller 5 ft baby grand, ivory keys,Grain filled Mahogany, English Chestnut stain and Clear Shellac, All set up in its new home

Finished shell for keyboard is now 3 inches wider, keyboard area is now 5 inches taller than it was so that the keyboard and standard key height for comfortable playing can be utilized. If you want the old look but not the tuning expense or weight going this route is for you.

1977 Wurlitzer Studio which had mint mechanicals , just an abused cabinet. The front rail was scratch made on the table saw and router table, Shown here about to be soda blasted.

1977 Wurlitzer Studio with its polished brass pedals, new key covers and new satin black finish. The dog was not painted.

1911 Steinway Model K, This one was factory Ebonized but someone stripped and clearcoated it. The wood beneath was not stain grade so we returned it to its original color. We usually have a few Model K steinways in stock

Same 1911 Steinway Model K , refinished back to Ebony with satin clearcoat, New key covers, Decal some of the missing parts were made from scratch. Shown delivered in its new home

1928 The Melin 6.5 ft Parlor Grand, which was celebrity owned but rough, Missing 20% of it's parts like the key cover which we scratch built,Finish was stripped, Dyed, Grain Filled, Toned and clear coated in the next picture

1928 The Mehlin 6.5 ft Parlor Grand. Finally done after 7 months of work and shown delivered.New strings,Keys,Complex double slide keycover, which was scratch built since original was missing. New finish, New casters, etc

1908 Story & Clark Cabinet grand, came in needing new clearcoat and as with most antique uprights it needed its Bass strings replaced

1939 Baldwin Acrosonic, The craftsmanship back in its day was fantastic, lots of parts to refinish on this one.

1939 Baldwin Acrosonic, with it's new satin black finish, recovered bench, polished brass, new keycovers and a good mechanical cleaning, this was a really nice piano. Another example of how the older pianos are built to last.

Lester Betsy Ross that was a customer owned refinish,birch cabinet which had a yellow clear over it. Very difficult to go darker without applying dye then the stain color coat, shown here stripped.

Wurlitzer Studio as it came in, going under the gun for a complete two tone refinish, lots of people would say something like this is a lost cause but we make these things look great again, better than it looked new

Same Wurlitzer Studio Piano wearing its brand new two tone finish, this is 7 coats of straight black followed by 5 coats of satin clear. New keycovers, polished brass. Very sharp.

1922 Schaff that came in with a fractured case, weak floor. We rebuilt all that stuff, piano sounded great but we did replace bass strings and refinish in ebony.

Schaff Brothers completed and in the new home. Satin Ebony, new bass strings, keycovers etc

1985 Kawai that came in, was used in a hotel lobby and the black high gloss lacquer was completely trashed, No casters, had sticky goo spilled inside, Once Black Lacquer cracks , chips or shows signs of age it cannot be repaired, time to refinish, We chose Satin Black.

1985 Kawai, new satin ebony finish,New concert grand casters, decal, cleaned, brass polished hard to believe it's the same piano we started with.

Henry Miller 5 ft grand shown partially disassembled, right after soda blasting/stripping This piano started out with a very dark trashed finish.

1914 Beckwith ( Sears Catalog Brand) Was a former player, we removed that part, had to make lots of parts from scratch etc

1914 Beckwith, Lots of missing parts were made in the shop, refinished in satin ebony, plastic key covers were replaced with reclaimed ivory. This one was picked out by a famous music personality but as always we protect the names of our clients

1949 Story & Clark 5.6 ft baby grand. Lots of cat scratches in the original finish,Went under the knife for Satin Ebony

1. 5.6 ft Story & Clark with it's new satin ebony finish, new nickel accents and casters, looks great in it's new home

1913 Behning which was a former player, we are brightening up the cabinet, installing keycovers and a few other things.

1913 Behning after basic brightening, new decal, some action work, keycovers in off white. This was another doomed to the dump piano that is now being used for teaching.

1923 Mehlin upright as it came in from Maryland. This was an expensive piano in its day. Great sound just needed some cosmetic updating. Typical of pianos from the east coast, very clean and well taken care of.

1923 Mehlin after brightening, new off white keycovers, refinished sharp keys, polished pedals.

1996 Baldwin 243 HPO, Some of these years had MDF cabinets This one still actually had a wood cabinet, Almost all of these will have the vents broken on them in the top cover. Shown ready for Primer.

1996 Baldwin 243 HPO shown finished and ready for delivery

1986 Baldwin 243 pre-primer, all the green spots represent a nick or dent, ebony refinishing is really the only way to go when they get like this.

1986 Baldwin 243, was Walnut with a beat up cabinet, polished pedals, new key tops, Semi Gloss Black finish/ bench

1918 Harvard, came in about 200 cents flat, which is awful, It was then pitch raised, then tuned up to A440

Same 1918 Harvard, Had what we call a stain overwash after a light sanding, This is an alternative to total refinishing if you can't afford that, then a few mist coats of Shellac. If you have a small budget as in 5 - 600 dollars this is how we do it. Included was a bench, new key covers,Decal, Delivery and final tuning after delivery.

1955 Gulbransen Studio, trashed finish, chipped keys etc. Shown just after stripping, Mahogany Case with Maple/Pine parts

1955 Gulbransen studio with its brand new finish, this is hand cut Shellac, which is made from dry flakes and Alcohol, once in liquid form it's sprayed on. New keys, Sharp !

1928 Kohler & Campbell, this was super clean, inbound from Wash DC area, pristine mechanically but we decided to put a custom finish on it.

1928 Kohler & Campbell wearing it's new Tri-color finish, New Key covers and matching bench

1930 Baldwin upright, shown after rough sanding before filler and primer.

1930 Baldwin Midsized upright, new satin ebony finish, new keytops, in it's new home

1870 Steinweg 6.8 ft Grand, 85 key, saved from the wrecking ball near Baltimore MD. Hard to believe nobody wanted this piano until they called us.

Steinweg in its new home in Nashville TN. Ready for another 100 years of enjoyment.

1958 Baldwin 243, which came to me in pretty sad condition, Someone had used it for BBgun target practice. There were 4 different kinds of grain filler/filler used, was missing 20 % of it's parts but checked out fine to be refurbished.

Completed 1958 Baldwin 243. We can pretty much make any cabinet parts for these from scratch in our sleep. New Satin Black finish,Pedals, keycovers,trapwork, skidplate, hardware etc.

1947 Hardman spinet which was in sad shape, needed complete refinish and action work. good candidate for a custom finish.

1947 Hardman Spinet, completed, with matching bench which is also two tone, Colors are Cherry, Mahogany and Satin Ebony, Polished brass, New elbows in the action, ready for its new life.

1915 Baldwin Midsized upright shown before stripping, trashed finish with gold antiquing someone applied, making it worse, trashed trap work ( pedals) missing a leg and lower door.

1915 Baldwin midsized upright after repairs and a natural refinish with no stain, yellow looking parts are actually cherry, just looks yellow in the sunlight.

1915 Kurtzmann with long Ryman history, stripped at this stage, this is walnut veneer

1915 Kurtzmann, finished with tinted clear, new keycovers, refinished sharps, Really nice piano

1930 Schiller grand which was sitting in a house by a kitchen forever, greasy and the worst trashed finish I've seen to date, dead finish depth was almost 1/4 inch thick.

Same grand piano after being stripped,sealed and had it's tinted clear coat applied, no stain, this is natural wood.

1921 Milton, pretty fair cabinet just needed a new finish, held A440 pitch and had an awesome smooth action

1921 Milton completed with new key covers, polished hardware,matching bench, this is our signature two tone type finish. Mahogany doors are natural, no stain, main cabinet is satin ebony. Sharp !

1930 Lester baby grand, mint mechanically but trashed finish. Picture shown just after basic stripping

1930 Lester after delivery to its new home, wearing its new satin ebony finish.

Baldwin 243 with a beat up cabinet, filled, and primed at this stage

Same baldwin 243 with new key covers, some case parts built from scratch, wearing its new satin ebony finish.

Vintage late 30s Wurlitzer mini piano, 72 keys, stripped at this point.

Wurlitzer mini, with rebuilt action, new rubber bumpers, new Tri-color finish, Walnut,Red Mahogany and satin ebony, new key covers, polished pedals and a matching bench

Yamaha P-22 Studio that came in pretty beat up case, keys were covered with stickers, Yamahas are notoriously hard to refinish due to nothing working on taking the old finishes off.

Yamaha P-22 after refurbishment,We put all new Silk cord in the action,got rid of all the stickers, tape etc, refinished in walnut with satin clear

1887 Schubert with a trashed finish,Veneer is some type of open grain 1/4 sawn burl. Area wood experts dont know what it is

1887 Schubert after refinishing, see the refinishing tab for the process,Darker areas are stained not painted, balusters are solid walnut

1895 Stultz & Bauer brought in from Ohio, finish was pretty trashed but holds pitch,lots of carvings

1895 Stultz & Bauer after its basic refinish/key cover replacement.

1918 Lafarrgue upright after cleaning and stripping, inside and out, we dont use chemical strippers ever. White stuff on the ground is sodium bicarbonate, really the only way to go on removing paint/finish on anything with carvings

1918 Lafarrgue after staining and clearcoating, original ivory keys looked good after polishing. Tuned perfectly to pitch.

1949 Hamilton Studio after sanding, this piano other than the finish being trashed was mint mechanically.

1949 Hamilton Studio with it's new finish, Mahogany stain, satin clear and new key covers.

1964 Kimball Artist Console in French Provincial creme and gold, not very attractive

1964 Kimball Artist console after getting a new semi gloss ebony finish. Bench was recovered in black leather as well.

1972 Henry Miller that was in a house fire, other than extreme soot damage it was okay. Entire piano was soda blasted to remove dirt/odors etc

1972 Henry Miller spinet after being stained, clearcoated and re- assembled.

One of our biggest projects to date was refinishing two 6 ft grand pianos for one household, a Mason Hamlin and a Baldwin both with trashed sun damaged ( alligator) finishes.

Finished pianos in the same room ( dueling style) The finish is a PPG Acrylic Alkyd Enamel with a urethane additive,Semi gloss Ebony, everyone loves this color. Black always goes with everything.

1909 Gulbransen I didn't have a chance to get a before shot of this but it was typically rough

1909 Gulbransen cabinet grand,ribbon mahogany, with solid mahogany framing, there was 7 hours of tuning and pitch raising involved to get it to international scale A438 It was that flat from 50 years of not being maintained

1928 Cable Nelson That had an older refinish job, was dull etc. We disassembled the entire piano, polished the keys, replaced missing parts, polished the brass, and applied 7 coats of semi gloss lacquer.

1928 Cable Nelson heading to its new home. Not all pianos need all out restorations. Total time on this project was 7 hours with the right equipment

1948 Baldwin Acrosonic with a trashed finish, dull keys and pedals. There were time restrictions on this as it was a last minute gift

Hand scraped with a straight blade to remove the flaking finish then light sanded, keys polished and a few coats of new lacquer about a 6 hour total investment.

1930 Winter Baby Grand, which are actually kind of rare.Had great sound, This one had been restrung a couple years earlier but the finish was trashed by cat claws, water rings and years of wear

1930 Winter Baby Grand, New satin ebony finish, New key covers, sharps, polished brass, hardware, recovered seat. Pictured in its new home

1886 Steinway upright, originally Ebony but had this brown ugly paint on it and 6 layers of green beneath that, refinished in Ebony again after soda blasting

1886 Steinway wearing it's new Ebony finish, best sounding upright I have heard.

1895 Fischer that came in as the result of a loss of interest in refinishing, This is how we got it.

1895 Fischer cabinet grand, Refinished in our signature colors, burl walnut and satin ebony with solid walnut legs.

Rare tiny 73 key 1941 Winter spinet. That came in, needed to be refinished, cleaned and new key covers. Great sound though for a spinet considering how tiny it really is.

41 Winter 73 key Spinet after refinishing, new key covers and complete cleaning

1921 Brambach Baby Grand the day it came in. It had a lot of issues from years of neglect.

1921 Brambach 4.7 ft Baby Grand all set up in it's new home, A lot of new hardware, polished brass parts, a ton of action work and a new semi gloss ebony finish.

1942 Wurlitzer that was super dirty from years of neglect. It also had the broken music rack. We were able to clean it up nicely and find it a new home

1942 Wurlitzer spinet cleaned up pic was taken before we installed a new music rack. Method for reviving the dead finish was 00 steel wool, furniture paste wax and a ton of elbow grease.

1925 Packard 5.5 ft Baby Grand. Came in with dead finish, cracked bass bridge and missing strings but had great potential and sound

1925 Packard Baby Grand after repairs and a new finish. Clear over natural mahogany veneer, all brass parts were removed and polished, we made several bridges and replaced bass strings.Super nice baby grand.

1921 Fitzgerald which came in from the west coast. Super clean mechanicals, just needed a new finish.

1921 J Taber Fitzgerald with new finish/mechanical restoration and keycovers. Clear over natural ribbon mahogany and satin black urethane accents ( our signature colors) No reproduction decal was available so we sanded the old one with 5000 # grit sandpaper,framed it out and clear coated over it.

1895 AB Chase before stripping. See the added segment at the bottom of our home page for the stripping process start to finish.

1895 AB Chase after refinishing and repairs. You are going to say why did they ever paint it, well because the old finish ( shellac) crystallized and hid the burl over time.

1948 Baldwin Acrosonic, This was owned and autographed by Jose Iturbi, Spokesman for Baldwin and Movie star in the 1940s. Notably his Films included Anchors Away and others.

1948 Baldwin Acrosonic after refinishing, Included some black accents. Great sounding piano with a history.

1980 Baldwin 243 as it looked when it came in. Missing lower door and front casters,Keys were dirty, finish was shot

1980 Baldwin 243 After Refurbishment, New lower door made from template, New correct casters, Satin Urethane Black, buffed keys, Bench to match with natural lid.

1979 Aeolian, dark oak dated styling, needed some springs replaced and a new finish

1979 Aeolian after being finished, New Satin Black Urethane all ready to go.

1957 Chickering when it came in, had some cabinet issues from years of neglect, Needed new key covers and alot of cleaning.

1957 Chickering Console with new Semi Gloss Black finish, New Key Covers, and a new decal.

1957 Cable Baby Grand, This came in with a bad finish and a really bad brushed polyurethane clear coat

Finished with new keys, a darker stain and 12 coats of lacquer

1976 Kimball Spinet as it came in, Had some veneer issues so we refinished it in black satin.

Kimball Spinet after refinishing, chrome polished, action lubricated, This has a new leather seat as well just not pictured.

1979 Vose & Sons before refinishing Ugly dated dark oak stain, Ugly styling above the music desk all removed.

1979 Vose & Sons ( Aeolian) refinished in Satin Black, Natural seat on Bench, Reworked music desk.

1908 Behr Brothers Cabinet Grand, 755 pounds, almost 5.5 feet tall and 70 inches wide. Largest upright I have ever seen, lots of new parts on this, awesome sound.

1964 Kohler & Campbell Studio Piano, This had a pretty beat up cabinet when it came in with lots of grafitti carved into the wood.

Same 1964 Kohler& Campbell Studio Piano after we filled all the scratches and dents, Put a new Satin Black Urethane finish on it and replaced the key tops. It also had some mechanical work done as well.

1915 Marshall & Wendall when the cabinet came in, This piano was totally rebuilt from the ground up after we refinished it.

1915 Marshall & Wendall, This was a case refinish job for a client, Veneer is Ribbon Mahogany. Finish is Satin Clear.

1963 Baldwin Acrosonic, I wish I had more of these, aparently they are pretty rare.

1963 Baldwin Acrosonic, with Danish styling. I got more calls on this one piano than any of the others we have had.

1965 Marco Polo Side view, Someone threw this away and it was on the curb waiting on us, we put a new satin black finish on it.

This was a little Super Rare Marco Polo piano, It is a real studio style piano without a drop action, these were made in Japan, Key bed height is 24 inches and it only had 75 keys

1987 Aeolian Studio upright being refinished in Black, Black urethane primer then color coat, Bench was left natural for the seat and then legs/skirt shot in black.

Same piano out in sunlight, This was a copy of the baldwin 243.

Little 1935 Remington Studio that came in from California, it looked like it was just built on the inside it was that clean

1935 Remington after Refinishing, This piano had great sound and tone.

Late 1800s Farrand Player from Holland Michigan. We have several vintage complete players in stock and while we dont restore players we do have hard to find parts from incomplete units, music scrolls etc available

Another Vintage Player, 1907 Stuyvesant in great shape.

1915 Richmond the day we got it, That is white Latex house paint over the original Ribbon Mahogany.

1915 Richmond, With it's new base coats of finish applied. These pics were taken before we shot 8 coats of clear over the natural wood parts.

Side view, Signature satin black accents and later received 8 coats of gloss lacquer over the natural mahogany veneer. A matching bench was built from scratch and painted black to match. Another great instrument saved from the dump and tuned up perfectly.

1930 Richmond Studio upright, 45 inches tall, came to us with an original trashed finish and way out of tune. Now wears a brand new urethane satin black finish and new key tops, Went to a home recording studio and maintains A440 Tuning

Same 1930 Richmond with its fall board closed. Satin Black is our specialty finish.

1912 Whitney rescued from a barn on top of a hill in Gallatin. The man who lived there said it was here when I moved in 50 years ago.

1914 Hamilton, Came in with a broken Fall Board, chipped keys, the front rub rail was damaged but it was tuneable and had great sound.

1914 Hamilton, New Keytops, new fall board, New key cover off a different piano then cut down, The key area was shot with automotive urethane , we did the lower skirt to match as well

Unique curved sound flap on this Behr Bros, Piano is massive in height, one of the tallest and heaviest we have seen here, 64 inches tall

1860 Antique upright, Completely restrung, brand new stainless steel tuning pins, new pedals, looks to have been made without a keycover. Lots of solid Walnut in this piano

1860 Antique upright, we have been unable to pin down a brand name, just a serial number.Almost no metal parts in the action except the pins/springs. Super nice

Fischer in its new home for all to enjoy

1880 Fischer Antique Upright in original un-restored condition except for the key tops. That We Proudly Donated to Millworks Theatre in Lebanon TN.

1898 Hamilton Upright used in the Allen Jackson video AJ country boy.

Another late 70s Kimball Before we updated the styling, it had many broken cabinet parts including a lyre

Same piano indoors, note the ugly fake spice drawers

In the shop getting "body" work, a new panel was added then grain filled, we made a new contemporary lyre, Primed then put on the Satin black finish.

Finished and Delivered, someone had a great birthday. We even got rid of the disco gold velour seat and replaced that with black leather.

1952 Kimball artist Console, as it looked when we got it, a pile of parts

Same Baldwin after getting refinished in satin black urethane. I also made a Key cover from poplar and made the hardware on the milling machine since there was none.

1952 artist console before shipment to Indiana. It was refinished and we made some new parts for it including a lyre, it also had new key tops put on.

New key tops, Nothing looks better with black that bright white keys

1978 Baldwin 243 Studio. We get tons of these in

This spinet was in a closet with about 2000 phonebooks when we went to get it

Same spinet after refinishing, the avid musician that owns it now loves it. It is another one of my favorites

1976 Kimball with deluxe steak house styling, we also remodel pianos to make them more appealing before resale.

1976 Kimball after receiving a new satin black finish, a new lyre was added after delivery.

1913 Gram & Rightsteig a donation traded to us because the children wanted a keyboard instead. This was an unusual piano with massive columns and barrel shaped vertical sides. It also sounded awesome

Same piano after refinishing, Signature satin black and natural wood with clear lacquer. We did eventually ask the new owner if he wanted us to remove the green masking tape from the pedals.

1897 Stultz & Bauer was roomates with the 1912 Whitney in an old barn in Gallatin TN for more than 70 years

1897 Stultz & Bauer refinished and playable. That is Satin black and Rosewood veneer, very ornate.

1912 Whitney finished in my signature Satin Black Urethane and natural colors. Piano now resides at Vanderbilt University.

1915 Bush & Lane Rescued from under a pile of motorcycle parts in a carport. It was there 30 years

1915 Bush & Lane after refinishing, It got new keytops, cleaned, stripped and then 9 coats of lacquer over the natural wood, no stain. This was tuned to A 440 without any issues. So much for the Myth about antique pianos being not tunable.

It's not easy being green but it wasnt any easier moving it to Korby Lenkers house.

1946 Weaver, 6 foot Grand, Restrung, New hammers, New Hammer Pins, New Key Tops and Refinished. Old finish and Body were pretty beat up.

Side View

Since there was a couple different types of wood and repairs involved we used a dark stain

Sold and set up in its new home

Side view

End View

1961 Stuyvesant 4.8 ft Baby Grand, Refinished in Matte Ebony

Basic Black Primer

In the showroom for only a matter of days before it sold.