Refinishing

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Les Smith wrote:

> On Tue, 6 Jan 1998, Delwin D Fandrich wrote:
>
> >   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >  You said Brambach, right? Does your customer have any idea of what the
> >  musical value of this instrument really is?
> >
> > Surely for any instrument to have "antique" value it needs to be a good
> > example of its type. Brambach pianos were not.
> >
> > Shouldn't it be something people are actually trying to acquire, as
> > opposed to trying to get rid of? And shouldn't it be at
> > least a little bit rare? Again, Brambach's are not.
> >
> > Refinishing this piano can only make it look somewhat better.
> <snip>
>
> -- ddf
>
> While I agree  with everything said, there are exceptions to every
> generalization. Years ago I was called out to service a Steinway O
> which had recently been refinished. It turned out ot be a do-it-your-
> self job in which the owner had used a brush and a can of S-L-O-W
> drying black, oil-base paint. While all the fuzzballs and dust caught
> between the brush strokes did give the piano a distinctive appearance,
> it had to have looked better before the "refinishing". It HAD to! :)
>
> Les Smith
> lessmith@buffnet.net

-----------------------------------

Les,

In my defense, I did only say that refinishing "CAN" only make it look somewhat better, not that it WOULD. (Whew! Squeaked
out of that one, didn't I?)

I once sent an interesting 8 foot (or so) straight-strung Chickering grand over to my old finisher in Portland with
instructions to finish it in black. We had no idea what was under the "hand-brushed" silver finish. Well, we did know that
there was at least one coat of red enamel -- also "hand-brushed." A week or so later I got a call from the finisher who told
me that if my customer really wanted this piano to be black, he'd have to take it elsewhere. I took my customer to the
finishers shop and we found ourselves looking at a truly spectacular rosewood cabinet with barely a flaw in the veneer
anywhere. He had to go through four coats of paint (including the silver and red) to get to it. Turned out to be a truly
wonderful piano. But then, I always did have a soft spot in my heart for straight-strung Chickerings.

Del