new piano scratched

[Fred Sturm]

They're gonna get scratched and scraped. You do what you can, but it'll
still happen. Our brand new D had just been delivered. I had ordered a
cover, but it arrived two days after the piano. Went to put it on, and
there was already a nice two inch bit of white wood showing on the edge
of the lid. A faulty (I just proofed this, and I like this spelling
error) member had got to the hall a bit early (before the stage crew
showed up) and shoved the piano through the double doors. (A week later
I installed carpet bumpers just below lid level on those door jambs. It
has helped a lot, but dings and scrapes still appear regularly).
	I prefer black lacquer to magic marker, myself. Use a narrow, short
bristle artist brush to fill in dings. Black, automotive, allowed to
evaporate to not quite gooey consistency. Once in a while I'll do a
woolwax job, and that will blend in the patches pretty well. Not worth
my while to do actual burn in, IMO. 
	If there is a good stage crew that will consistently keep a thick pad
on top, that will help with top dings and scrapes. BUt be sure to
emphasize that it shouldn't be laid "inside down" on the floor - outside
surface of cover always kept outside - or the cover will pick up sand
and dirt, and will scratch the finish as badly as the instruments and
other detritus.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

Wolfley, Eric (WOLFLEEL) wrote:
> 
> It never ceases to amaze me how disrespectful musicians are of pianos.
> The walls of our recital halls are covered with black marks from the
> pianos being crammed against them. Scratch marks appear on the lids
> hours after delivery. These are from the little metal feet on the
> bottom of instrument cases. The faculty doing lectures in the hall use
> the pianos for desks and put their briefcases (with the little metal
> feet) and other things on top of the piano. After a while, the
> instruments get a patina of abuse and you get out the magic marker and
> quit worrying about it. I try to get the kids to visualize the piano
> as a brand new Porsche Carrerra their daddy just bought and think
> about what would happen if they put their instrument case (with the
> little metal feet) on top of the paint-job....
>  
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Eric Wolfley, RPT
> Head Piano Technician
> Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
>      -----Original Message-----
>      From: Wimblees@aol.com [mailto:Wimblees@aol.com]
>      Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 6:01 PM
>      To: caut@ptg.org
>      Subject: new piano scratched
> 
>      The university got a new B 2 weeks ago, (a gift from an
>      Alumni), for the recital hall, and in just a couple of days,
>      someone has put some major scratches on the top. Although I
>      was expecting the piano to take some abuse, I was
>      disappointed in how soon it got damaged. The recital hall
>      gets used about 4 periods a day for classes, and 4 hours a
>      day for rehearsals, recitals, lessons, etc. We are going to
>      try to keep the room locked, but most of the time it is
>      open.
> 
>      The chair doesn't want to restrict the use of the piano.
>      Although there is a light weight cover on it, and I have
>      ordered a heavy duty cover, some of the piano faculty want
>      to keep the piano under lock and key.
> 
>      What are some of you doing to keep new or newer pianos in
>      good condition, not so much action wise, but appearance
>      wise?
> 
>      Wim
>      Univ. of Alabama