Some damper heads that cleaned up nicely waiting for new felts

One by one, the tuning pins are screwed out and cut away from the strings.  

Tough to get it just right, but a fun job.  I often think about the anonymous factory man who first did the job back in the 1920's. 

Prepping it for refinishing.  Tough on the fingers, but worth the effort.  

A decades old finish developing the characteristic alligatoring.

A satisfying job that requires real precision.  It is crucial to reproduce the exact same hammer strike line that the piano was designed for. 

Not bad!  

Waiting to be scraped and sanded.  A long process done by hand but necessary to prepare the wood for new finish.  It can be satisfying to scrape away old finish, stroke by stroke. 

You can get things pretty close on the bench, but the fine regulation must always be done inside the piano!  Here, the hammer blow distance and let-off are being regulated.  For proper functioning, a grand hammer is set to let off at 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch from the strings. 

A fun job.  Custom made hickory "go-bars" are used to keep pressure on the shim while the glue is drying.  Getting the shim to fit perfectly is a real task requiring patience and a good eye and feel. 

Over time, the strings wear grooves into the bridge cap and it is necessary to reproduce a clean termination point for functionality and sound quality.  A sharp chisel and steady hand are key. 

Here's an old Ivers & Pond from the 1890's that I picked up to refurbish a bit and sell.  The figured wood is dazzling!

My daily view. 

A sad day for this piano owner.  The pitch was dramatically flat towards the treble end of the piano and when I opened the lid I found this gaping crack.  The plate and pinblock had begun to pull away from the rim and beams of the piano––no wonder things were flat.