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Baldwin Restoration Project- 1926 Baldwin Model H 5' 8" Grand Piano
Started 17 March, 2010

Our latest project is a beautiful old Baldwin Grand piano. We'll try to show this from start to finish, it will probably take the better of 6 months to complete. So, here we go!

We began work on this on the 17th of March, 2010. As of this writing, 26 March, 2010, it is now at the refinisher's shop where the case will be transformed into that of a new piano with a beautiful dark mahogany finish. Right now with it's aged alligatored finish, it's hard to tell just what the original finish looked like.

Hopefully, it will be fun for someone interested in the restoration process. It will take me considerably longer since I'll be documenting this all the way through.

Here she is, just brought in by the movers and setup. First, we'll give it a good look over, noting any exterior defects, like missing veneer, etc..

 

Next is taking it apart: Removing the music desk, the lid, the keyslip, followed by the fallboard & cheek blocks, then the action. Finally, a good blowout.

This video shows the keyslip, fallboard & cheekblocks and action being taken out.

The downbearing is noted, using a little rocker tool sampling a few strings across the piano. Just a little check here and there is all that is needed, no need to check every single note. On this piano it tells me that the whole mid section is low, that is it doesn't rock, it stays flat.

Tthe bass, low tenor section and the high treble section are good. In the end we can choose to lower the plate or hopefully, we'll get some of that back after we shim the soundboard. More on that later.

Lastly the damper screws are loosened and the dampers removed, numbered and stored on a raill made to hold the dampers.

 

What's not shown is the piano being blown out and VERY importanty, the damper screws being re-tightened so they don't fall out and get lost!

Check out page 2, the story goes on!

 

 

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