AboutSamuel Noel Expertise I am a piano technician formerly with Steinway and Sons and now the staff technician at the City College of New York. I am also self-employed in New York. I apprenticed (Manhattan School of Music)in 1982 and was factory (Steinway) trained in 1983. I have experience tuning, repairing, reconditioning, and appraisals. Please note that appraising an instrument involves a visual inspection. I am not an expert in player mechanisms, refinishing, electronic keyboards, nor midi. I love the work of making an instrument sound concert quality.
Experience I successfully apprenticed at the Manhattan School of Music under Alan Buchman in 1982 (also received B.A. in music from same school) and employed by Steinway and Sons in 1983 as a tuner-technician. I also served as service manager for Steinway. Presently, I am the staff technician at City College of New York, CUNY and I handle warranty issues and tunings for Suzuki Pianos.
Question QUESTION: Hi, i have just picked up a lindeman & sons of new york, est. 1836 oak upright, serial #131861. unrestored, missing most keytops, missing 2 wheels and greatly in need of some loving care. it sounds great! only slightly out of tune on a few keys. no bench. what can you tell me about it? thanks, diane
ANSWER: Hi Diane,
Your piano was manufactured in 1917. Lindeman and Sons were taken over by the American Piano Co. and stopped production in 1947.
You'll have to have new keytops installed if you're "missing most keytops." This will cost several hundreds of dollars. The technician will have to take all 52 of the naturals and ship them to a factory for recovering. When the technician gets them back, the keys will have to be leveled so that they are nice and even, visually and to the touch.
Action parts are not cheap, so needing "loving care" hopefully means that the parts inside are repairable to keep maintenance costs down. The missing wheels might be replaceable by a tuner-technician, however, the size and weight of larger uprights sometimes necessitates using piano movers to provide access to the bottom of the cabinet.
You can get a bench at any piano dealer or ask your tuner to order one for you.
All in all, if you are happy with the instrument, that's all that matters. I don't recommend putting too much money into it because the value of the instrument will not increase significantly as an investment unless it's a brand like Steinway or Mason & Hamlin.
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QUESTION: Thank you Sam. The box of replacement key tops came with it. The previous owner was removing them herself. There are bits and pieces remaining on the keys. What are the chances I can continue that project myself? Hints?
All the action parts appear to be fine. It's mostly missing the dowel type bumpers etc.
I do not plan on investing much in it as I picked it up as a fun item. It was free. I played many years ago.
Diane
ANSWER: Hi Diane,
Replacing keytops is not fun. Properly done, each key is milled and resurfaced by machine. New keytops are installed with ivorine cement and then the keytops are reshaped to fit the dimensions of the key itself.
You can try scraping the ivory fragments off with a chisel (remove the key first so as not to damage the sharps or the fallboard (which covers the keys). If you don't have a grinding wheel, try sanding by hand until the old glue residue is removed. You can use contact cement to attach the new keytops and then shape to size with a file.
Again, this is not fun work (at least not for me) and it takes quite a few tries to get the hang of it. Even for a technician, it's never quite the same as having the factory do the work.
I'm not sure what the "dowel type bumpers" are. You could be referring to the capstans that extend from the back of the keys or the backchecks (they are lined with green felt) that catch the hammer butt catcher after the note is struck.
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QUESTION: Thanks again. I think I will attempt this myself first. Is there a trick to removing each key? I also need to put color back on the black keys as it is worn off. Will black wood stain be alright?
The dowels & dowel holes(?) I mentioned are on the exterior of the cabinet.
I refinish or just freshen up a lot of victorian era oak pieces and enjoy doing it.
Is there any chance I could find a picture of what it looked like complete or maybe of one similar? Diane
Answer Hi Diane,
Most uprights have a front panel that is attached by screws or hooks to the piano cabinet from inside at both ends. Detach the front panel. Some larger pianos have posts that hold the front panel and are also held by screws (usually two). Remove them and you will have access to the screws that either hold the fallboard or a "platform" that is directly above the fallboard. The screws are at the ends. Some pianos have a thin wooden strip that keeps the keys down as well. Usually, there are screws at the ends and round nuts at the center. Not every piano has the same cabinetry, not even within the same brand. The above is a rough idea of what to expect. You may want to mark where each screw goes in case you forget.
As for the dowels, your best bet may be at Lowes or Home Depot. Finishers get their materials from piano parts companies such as Schaff Piano, however, they only sell to the industry, not to the public. A tuner would probably have a catalogue that you can see and order for you.
As for seeing what the instrument may have looked like, visit piano dealers near you to see restored instruments. You could also try going into used piano dealer websites to see if any inventory looks like yours.
