| Posted: 10 September 2017 at 2:26pm | IP Logged | 9
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When my grandmother passed, I inherited her Kimball upright -- 1897 stamped on the soundboard -- so old, the hammers still had leather straps and, dog forbid, ivory keys.
I had to restore it in stages. Did the hammers first -- new felt and then, new straps. That was a healthy chunk of change, especially for internal work.
I had it semi-restrung. Several of the low strings had stretched through the years and the piano couldn't be brought back to a440. Made it easier to sing high notes...
Next -- as my own project -- I stripped and re-varnished it. The varnish had cracked and melted to the point beyond antique-kitsch. I took great pride in restoring the exterior.
THEN a tuner came to work on it and said, "It has no value now. By removing the original finish, you've removed it's value as an antique."
"It has value to me. That's all that matters. And look at it -- it's beautiful."
"You can't even bring this piano back up to pitch."
"It's more in tune that it ever was when I was a kid. I like it."
For many years, my grandmother's old Kimball upright shared the same office as my Baldwin studio upright, the piano my grandmother bought me for my college graduation.
It's nice to get them restored. F*ck value.
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