My return to the shop has been fun. It's good to see Osious, who's back after a month in Spain and France. Jack has been helping me learn something about chess, and brought a chessboard to the shop on both days. Celeste and I are deciding on a piano duet to play on The Volkert together. As a result, my lunch breaks have become rather lengthy, but you only live once.
Thursday, 30 Aug 12
Among several tasks this week, I sanded underlevers. The bottom underlever has a sanded curve, and the top one with the corner is brand new. There were some complications with The Volkert concerning the sostenuto (middle pedal), so Jack had to come in on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Thursday, 06 Sep 12
Celeste brought in a marvelous carrot cake on Monday, and I was asked to test drive The Volkert in order to ensure customer satisfaction. After I explained that some of the registers felt slower or heavier than others, Bernard removed lead in order to modify the drop weight and lift weight of certain keys by my visit on Thursday. The leads shown below were partially drilled out ever so neatly.
Thursday, 13 Sep 12
The Volkert is almost done. I played it on Monday and Thursday, and it truly is a lovely instrument. I took home Grandma's casters at the end of the week.
On Wednesday, the rug George and I ordered to go under the piano came, and it was the WRONG shade of grey. After a panic attack and a phone call to overstock.com, we got it packed up with a return label and ordered a different rug immediately. Close one.
Here's a picture of backchecks just because backchecks are nice.
Thursday, 20 Sep 12The Volkert is almost done. I played it on Monday and Thursday, and it truly is a lovely instrument. I took home Grandma's casters at the end of the week.
On Wednesday, the rug George and I ordered to go under the piano came, and it was the WRONG shade of grey. After a panic attack and a phone call to overstock.com, we got it packed up with a return label and ordered a different rug immediately. Close one.
Here's a picture of backchecks just because backchecks are nice.
Over the weekend, the new rug arrived. On Monday, I brought the third and final payment to the shop, and Jack refined the dampers a final time. The Volkert will be coming home on Saturday!
I satinized keys for a 9-foot Baldwin, plugged bridge pin holes, and cleaned up my own casters on Thursday. Those casters had buildup from one year in the shop in addition to all the wear in Washington, but 3 paper towels and a generous amount of windex have them looking as good as new.
Saturday, 22 Sep 12
The Volkert arrived in our home, Castle Greyskull, at 6 pm. She fits right in.
Restoring the piano has been an incredible process, and I'm so grateful. My mom deserves my utmost gratitude, because she offered me a loan and encouraged me to quit my teaching job to do something I would enjoy more. The project clearly would never have been possible without her. I'd also like to thank my sweet George, who dealt with the Blanco dust all over his car, welcomed me home with terrific dinners, wiped the black lacquer from my arms and face, reminded me to stay hydrated, and willingly took care of us as I lost a paycheck. I'd like to thank my dad. Although he wasn't the strongest supporter from the beginning, I think he eventually became my biggest fan, and acted more interested than anybody else when I jabbered on. I'd like to thank his parents for giving me the piano, which I've named after my grandmother. Of course, The Volkert might be sitting in a junk yard somewhere, had I never run into the most excellent piano shop. A thousand thanks to Bernard, Jack, Osious, Celeste, and Nathan for being so competent and welcoming. I've learned a lot from them, but more importantly, they are wonderful people.
END
