Piano Refinishing

[Kdivad@AOL.COM]

In a message dated Mon, 3 Jun 2002 11:13:08 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Brian Trout <grandrestorations@yahoo.com> writes:

>To those interested...
>
>I think it's time we saw a series of articles in
>the Journal about piano refinishing.  It seems to
>be one of those subjects that is pushed under the
>rug when it comes time for the printed material. 
>
>We tend to divide up our field into segments such
>as:
>
>1) Tuning
>     a) in home
>     b) concert
>2) Rebuilding
>     a) refurbishing
>     b) rebuilding
>     c) remanufacturing
>3) Refinishing 
>     a) parts as needed
>     b) complete
>
>There are a pretty significant number of
>technicians out there who are actively involved
>in the refinishing process (at least 4 of the 7
>listings I placed above would be responsible for
>doing some finishing work) and I don't know that
>it's right that such a significant portion of the
>work done by this trade is left totally
>unaddressed.
>
>No offense is intended to those who tune, but to
>those of us who do not, more articles on
>temperaments are not high on our priority list of
>reading material.  I savor those articles on
>rebuilding, sometimes seeming few and far
>between.  But I can't remember any serious
>article on refinishing, ever.
>
>It's a part of our trade.  It would sure be nice
>to see it receive some attention.
>
>'Nuff said by me.  I'll crawl back under my rock
>now.
>
>Have a good day, all.
>
>Brian T.
>
>
>=====
>Brian Trout
>Grand Restorations
>3090 Gause Blvd., #202
>Slidell, LA  70461
>985-649-2700
>GrandRestorations@yahoo.com


Absolutely, I agree, I gave a class for our local Dallas chapter and had a great response. I just taught the basics of my own techniques, enough for someone to get started if they wanted.  I also found that there are a lot of tuners who get asked questions about finishing and were glad that they had a better understanding of the process.  Our contract work increased because tuners and technicians armed with some knowledge started selling refinishes.

David Koelzer
Vintage Pianos
DFW