Two items regarding satin finishes. I gather that most refinishers producing grain-filled satin lacquer finishes sand the finish flat after spraying the final coat and sand up to somewhere between 800 grit and 1200 grit. Then they use 0000 steel wool or the synthetics and do their parallel scratch pattern for the final satin look. On my 1098 that I formerly owned, and on a 1996 S&S M that I serviced this morning, it appears quite clear that the final coat the finish is sanded flat, but then brought right up through some level of polishing before being hit with the 0000 steel wool. I did some test panels recently with sanding up through 1500 grit and then hitting with the steel wool. This looks very nice, but I kinda like the contrast of clear and scratch pattern in the finishes that are polished before being hit with steel wool. Am I right than Steinway satin lacquers finishes are polished prior to steel wool treatment? The other item is that I was surprised on the M that whereas the lid, music desk, fallboard had perfectly filled grain, the entire rim was only partially filled. Little specs of grain indentations all over the whole rim. Clearly the rim misses a step or two in the finishing process. Is this just a one-off boo-boo, or is this common? Terry Farrell Piano Tuning & Service Tampa, Florida mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
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