Indeed my point, the idea in a satin ebony "fast finish" means to disregard whatever was originally there. The kind of finish I'm referring to is exclusively intended for situations where economics don't justify anything better. For this type of budget finish, after stripping I open a fresh can of Bondo and go to work. Mark everything out in advance so you don't forget anything and work fast. Before you know it you will feel like a dry wall taper. Smaller missing veneer chips can be filled in directly. If there is a large veneer piece missing however, use whatever scrap veneer you have to fill the space. Matching doesn't matter and don't worry about gaps between the old and new. When you finish Bondo-ing the hell out of everything who cares? I always add a little extra hardener but this does shorten the pot life so don't piddle around once you get started. Give it a good 3 hours to cure. Bondo is relatively soft for the first few hours thereafter so sanding doesn't take much work to smooth it down. Now, Bondo is only a course filler and won't make it smooth. For this use glazing putty available from automotive supply stores. It comes in a big fat tube and looks a lot like Bondo but no mixing. Use this to smooth out your repairs and fill in all the little imperfections throughout the case. It just smears on in the consistency of tooth paste and dries in less then an hour if you don't put it on too thick. It will sand down smooth with fine paper very easily. Go over the piano with this a few times as needed and it will save you hours of time. When you are finished the piano might look like a pink Jr. high school art project but again, who cares? This is about economics, you either do it fast and profitable or you end up storing it for another 10 years until you finally get tired of it taking up shop space and dump it. Next, for the sealer I sometimes use "Deft". Don't get this mixed up with the Deft "finish" which is absolutely lousy; it is so soft you can just look at it and it will scratch. Their sealer however is very easy to work with and once again the magic word... fast. After sanding it becomes smooth as velvet, (how's that for a metaphor?) Okay, maybe not velvet but it powders away when sanding leaving an exceptionally smooth surface without spending a lot of time on it. Go down to about 400 grit on your final pass. Deft sealer can be a little hard to find these days, I used to get gallon sized cans at my local Lowe's store but they don't have it anymore. It's available in spray cans but that could get expensive. You might have order it on the internet or see if your local wood working store will get it for you. Once again I stress... NEVER use Deft for the finish, it's horrible. I only use the sealer. Now you are ready for the black lacquer. You might want to consider using the Mohawk pre-catalyzed lacquer I mentioned before. This is a product that I was only recently introduced to by a well respected colleague but I was instantly sold on it and wished I knew about it years ago. It gets exceptionally hard, more like "good" lacquer used to be years ago, and dries rather quickly. Thin it a little and it will flow out better. One final trick I have used on occasion is to apply a final coat of clear over my last coat of rubbed out black. After lightly rubbing the clear coat it will give off a smooth glow that looks nice in soft light. Okay, that's my quickie economy black lacquer finish. I would do things differently on a much more profitable job so I am not suggesting you do this on every piano that comes your way. Depending on how much you calculate the job is worth will largely reflect how well it comes out. If you are looking for more perfection you may want to apply a second coat of sealer and sand it out again before lacquering. The point is, the piano will now be "sellable". In my experience people tend to shop with their eyes. If the piano looks like crap then you aren't going to be able to sell it for much no matter how good it is. But if you can produce a half way decent and presentable finish that would look acceptable in a typical middle class home you will do okay. Rob Goodale, RPT Las Vegas, NV ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Magness The only pianos I ever saw him do in ebony by choice were some used blonde studio pianos he acquired for next to nothing. He filled the chips and missing veneer with Bondo, sprayed a heavy primer coat, sanded it and sprayed 2 or 3 coats of black lacquer. However that was on pianos that already had had a lot of filler on/in them from the blonde finish and he felt it was the quickest choice for a low priced instrument. -- I intend to live forever. So far, so good. Steven Wright Michael Magness -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090113/07cabb5e/attachment.html>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC