Finding or rebuilding a piano can be very confusing. The topic is wrought with as many conflicting opinions as there are “authorities” who give them. The most self-serving sources get caught up in the rhetoric of dogma and don’t care what will best serve you, the customer. 

“Your soundboard is too old and cracked. It is time to have it replaced with a new soundboard.”

“Your old soundboard is cracked, but it is still better and more cost effective to repair it”.

“To expect a piano soundboard that is 75-125 years old to retain its original crown and cellular structure in the spruce, is ludicrous.”

“The wood gets stronger with age.”

“Modern Sitka is inferior tree farm wood. Not properly aged as they where when pianos were first built.”

“When the piano soundboard gets old the dimensions of the crown disappear and the board may shrink.”

“Soundboards are not "resonators.”

“Soundboards are not amplifiers. In engineering terms, soundboards are transducers (a critical distinction).”

“Etc...”

We do not replace the soundboard. We like to compare old pianos to Stradivarius Violins. Would you tear the top off your Stradivarius and replace it?! No, that would destroy the violin.

Up until the late 20’s piano made their soundboards from virgin growth Sitka spruce that was naturally aged for years.

Unfortunately those days are gone. New soundboards are taken from young tree farmed trees that have not matured properly. As time goes on, these trees are cut at more premature stages of development. Some companies now use solid spruce plywood for soundboards.

Sure it’s true that soundboards can develop cracks with age, but these can be repaired to perfection, at a fraction of the cost of replacing the soundboard with a new and inferior board.  As with a Stradivarius Violin the soundboard does get better with age.

If you have a board with crown after 70 or 100 years it will keep its crown.  It is the sidewalls of the piano case that holds the crown. So if the rim is weak the board can go flat. If there is no crown on a piano then you may not want to rebuild it. Beware of pianos with new boards.

Scraping Finishes are the way to go.

There are many other facets to remanufacturing a piano properly. For example most rebuilders will use chemical strippers. On older pianos the original builders used hot hide glue. We hand scrape the finish because modern chemicals will weaken the seams and the structural integrity of these pianos. In many instances, chemicals will cause the glue to fail under the veneer. When this happens, you will see veneer start popping off after a year or two.  

Our carefully hand rubbed finishes are available in natural wood tones and ebony, satin or high gloss.

Regulating and balancing the action will vastly improve the sound you get from your piano.  With new hammers and keys, you will be amazed at the difference in performance.

We put your piano back to the way the people who built them intended. The way the people who were there during the time that piano created the name piano.

We repair soundboards to look like new, and sound much better than their new counterparts. Compare one of our rebuilt pianos with a new one and you’ll hear the difference.  Your rebuilt piano, if properly cared for, will last for another generation. We put the piano back to its original condition, and after decades of restoring pianos our results speak for themselves.

A pin plank in a piano is fitted, glued, and doweled. Precisely fitted.

The reason you hire a professional, vs., cheap and fast, is that a bad job like this could easily crack the plate and destroy the piano. This client was very lucky that didn’t happen.