Piano Project - Part 4

Got the other half of the lid on, and put the 2nd shelf in. Freaked out that it wasn't level until I realized it was my garage floor that was off, not the piano. Oops. So close.......

Piano Project - Part 3 continued...

Finally peeled the plexi-glass protective coating. Looks better than I expected. A huge thank you to Mr. Needham for the donation!





I spent the rest of my project time today fabricating some stops for the kick board on the bottom. Because of the pieces I took out, it doesn't have anything to keep it from falling forward or backward.

This one below is little more complicated because it needs to turn 90 degrees so that you can remove the kick board when access to the guts is required. Little square of foam on the end will keep the board from rattling too much.


Last coat of polyurethane is drying on everything that needed it.

The last step will be popping in the 2nd shelf, re-hinging the other half of the top, and getting started on the electrical wiring. The end is near!

Piano Project - Part 3

Next up was a set of new casters, because the old ones had seen better days and I knew I was going to be wheeling this thing around a lot. Excitedly I mounted them, and then realized maybe I should have waited. It turns out, my timing was right as I was going to be moving this thing a lot throughout the end of the project.



I knew I wanted to stain the inside and back, and paint the exterior frame complimentary shades of aqua and deep blue. Here's a quick shot of the finishes I landed on:



1. Behr primer/paint combo in flat. Sample can. Plenty of paint to hit the panels I wanted.
2. Glidden high gloss for the kick board. Easy to clean, durable, slightly different shade than the paint on purpose for depth.
3. Minwax water-based stain, dyed custom by the lady at home depot based on my paint swatch.
4. Clear coat for the stained areas.
5. Also, some serious wood glue I used for reattaching the bottom of the piano back on.

Then, a quick fit-test to see what kind of room I would have on the edges, and how big the plex would need to be that would function as my "bottom shelf". This 49-key Axiom fit nicely.




Next up: the shelves. I wanted the top one to be stained wood and the bottom to be made of plexi-glass so that I could inlay custom artwork in the 4 wood squares and they would be seen through the working surface. Picked up a piece of plex from a dear friend who is known for having this sort of thing on hand. Cut it with a jigsaw, then drilled holes in the notched sections to get the jigsaw running side-to-side to finish the notches. Despite all advice, I found running the saw quickly (instead of slowly like everyone suggested) made the cleanest cuts with no melted plastic.



Here's one of the glass laid in, with notches taken out of the back edge to stabilize any sliding. (It still has the protective blue coating on.)

Piano Project - Part 2

STEP 2:

I knew the next part was gutting this beast. All 88 keys came off pretty easily once the guard plank was removed. I removed the cheek blocks to maximize the width of the "bottom shelf". Next was the piano strings...you know, the kind gangsters kill people with in old mob movies?

Rather than unwind all of them with a piano wrench I did not own, I opted to grab the bolt cutters and go one by one with protective glasses on. 88 wires isn't too bad, right? Wrong. Most keys hit 3 strings so do the math...I was cutting a couple dozen a day for several days. Then I had to take a pair of vice grips and pull the remnant rusted strings off of the pegboard. Nasty.



Next was yanking the cast iron plate. That meant finding a way to pull the huge steel piece (75 lbs) from inside the wood frame. That was the hardest part of the whole project. Other than being heavy, there was no clear path to pull it out without deconstructing some of the frame, which was risky because anything I disassembled had to be rebuilt creating more work. Finally, I decided to drive it out the bottom, which meant I pulled off the bottom piece of the piano. Here she is, free of her piano prison:



If I am still feeling ambitious when this project is done, I may turn the plate into a coffee-table. One side is perfectly flush and would hold a custom cut piece of glass well. Legs would be easy to attach. Just an idea...

Here's the pinblock cleaned of all its rusty whiskers.


In an attempt to have a clean canvas to begin rebuilding, I started pulling off wood pieces that were either cosmetic, or structurally unnecessary. Now we're getting somewhere!


(end of part 2)

Piano Project

On various tours, I have across a particular DIY project that I always thought would be a fun undertaking; converting an old upright piano into a MIDI workstation. The basic concept is:

Step 1: Find an old upright for cheap. Really cheap.
Step 2: Gut it.
Step 3: Refinish it to your liking.
Step 4: Install your favorite MIDI/audio devices.

The reasons for the project are functional as well as aesthetic. It could be used by the bands at Living Stones, as well as look cleaner and cooler than a table full of wires and cables.

So...

Last month I decided to stop just thinking about it, and try it. Step 1 was finding a piano for "free-fifty". I had noticed a guy on Craigslist that was always selling old uprights, and in some of his photos it seemed he had a storage space full of them so I gave him a ring. Our conversation:

DZ: Hello, I have a question for you that you probably don't get a lot. Do you have an upright that is damaged beyond repair?

GUY: Why yes, i was taking one to the dump tomorrow. Want it today?

Sweet.




(end of part 1)