My friend Kathleen and I were pleasantly surprised to find Azul, Jack's blue eyed husky, at the bridge on our way in. Jack, Osious, and Bernard were pleasant company as always.
I worked on other people's pianos to the sound of fiddle duets.
Bernard showed me how to remove the action of a Steinway, since every pianist should be able to retrieve lost pencils. I'm not good at it.
I rubbed the Steinway decal onto The Volkert's soundboard. Little did I know that this would make her seem more like my piano and less like a collection of parts. After Osious set her out in the sun to cure next to my workstation, I felt strangely emotional. I blame it on the Queen Pandora streaming through my earbuds.
It was a very rainy day, so Osious and I worked indoors and occasionally tended to the wood stove. I sanded the soundboard, which has had several new coats of lacquer, and the plate, which has had its first layers of gold.
On another piano, I steamed the cap off a treble bridge and got halfway through plugging the holes before I had to leave for TCC's final dress rehearsal of the performance Israel in Egypt by Handel.
It usually doesn't take people all day to letter a plate, and I didn't even finish. You are supposed to trace along the raised surface using a calligraphy pen with black water based lacquer. I was already slow, and then I got stuck on the Steinway symbol. It still doesn't look great, but Bernard told me that they don't look better coming from the factory. All plate lettering looks very nice from a distance.
Bernard is so sweet. He offered me dinner, showed me the pretty moon outside after sunset, and told me to call George. I didn't, but George called me, so I finally gave up and went home to a warm shower, hot dinner, and hugs and kisses.
George came with me to the last shop visit before our trip to see Liên in Hawaii. The Volkert will probably have the pinblock glued in and the plate installed the next time I visit. I wish I could be there for more of the work, but good big sisters try not to think too hard on such matters.
It was a great day. I finished the lettering on the plate and Osious did a few touch ups before applying the final coat of clear lacquer.
Bernard, his stepdaughter Dana, Osious, George, and I took a small hike to see a cave and waterfall on the property. It was a scenic walk, and the ever knowledgeable Bernard pointed out several plants and rocks. After lunch, George and I "rubbed out" the soundboard with sandpaper, scotch-brite, and steel wool before applying liquid wax, re-lacquering the bridge notches, and painting the black stripe along the edge of the soundboard. Can you see the black stripe?
If you're still reading this, you may find it interesting to compare the plate to how it was on Nov 25th (Part IV) and the soundboard to how it was on Nov 4th (Part III).
END PART VI
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