Expert: Eileen Cronk - 10/5/2006

Question
I recently got a piano from my wife's family.  It is a Howard Vincent upright Piano from Pennsylvania, PA.    I believe it was made in 1919.   The serial number on the paper datemark certificate is 13330.   do you have any idea as to the rarity of this piano company and manfacturer's quality?  I have not been able to find anything about it on the internet.

The finish is very much alligatored - it has quite a few sctratches as well.  To refinish this, should I attempt to use Qualarenu to smooth it out?  I have no idea whether the finish is lacquer, or old varnish ( not polyurethane), or shellac.  Or should I strip it down and do a complete stain and tung oil?
Thanks,
Ryan J. Kee

Answer
Hi Ryan
Nice to hear from you.
Ryan its been my experience here in Canada that these old pianos are not worth much because of their size and difficulty to move.
Having said that I personally love them. The craftmanship is superb in most of them.
So many manufacturers made pianos that I was not surprised at finding no info about yours.
You could try the Qualarenu (which I think is a reamalgamating product) (not sure though as names are different here in Canada) but personally I have had limited sucess with this type of product and you can in fact end up ruining the finish.
Start the easy way with a product like this
http://www.drwoodwell.com/
I am hearing good comments about this product.
Then if all else fails, a complete refinish, stain and tung oil.
Good
Luck
Regards
Eileen