Acquiring and Repairing an Antique Piano
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Enjoying antiques can be such a rewarding experience. This one, especially for me since my children love the interaction of it being a musical instrument that they can easily participate with.
I was so excited when the opportunity came about for my family to accept an antique piano as a gift from some family friends. They are in the process of remodeling and really just needed the old thing out of the way since there hasn’t been anyone interested in playing it over there for years. I have always had a longing to play and now having 3 young children who also show interest, I jumped at the chance to take this free piano. But let me tell you, there is no such thing as a free piano. I am sure I have heard that somewhere before, but as I said I was super excited to have an opportunity for my kids to learn piano!
Trying to get it to my place is more of a situation than I initially thought it might be. I couldn’t really come up with a willing crew of my own to move it for me, and I really didn’t want to risk damage to the piano or, most importantly injury to someone. Turns out totally free wasn’t gonna happen for me. But we were interested in this particular one so, I looked for piano movers and found that I was definitely going to go with the pros on this! We needed the experience and expertise of Big Al’s Specialty Moving Company, they work in the Portland Metro area and are wonderful! Big Al himself came out to do the job because it was a doozy! Ended up that the piano weighs about 700-800 pounds and there was a flight of stairs involved and it took several hours to even get out of the place from where it had been sitting for the last, at least, 30 years! It was really neat for my kids and I to watch this great big Samoan man and his other amazingly skilled mover manipulating this huge piano so gracefully. He was a real gentle giant! They say piano moving is like an art, and I believe it now! They honestly deserve praise for excellent customer service on several levels. I am finding our story being hijacked by my need to say that this was the best customer service experience I have had in a while! From the very start, great advertising and word of mouth (from piano tuners and other movers). The way the phone was answered immediately and by a friendly and knowledgeable young Lady who was truly kind and helpful. I was offered a free estimate…that he’d come out that day to check out the pickup site (NICE). The estimate came back VERY competitive, I’m talking…super reasonable! I had done some calling around and Big Al’s was by far the most professional in all aspects, from start to finish of the job.
I had previously done research about the piano itself to make sure that it was at least worth the hassle. I tried to find out as much as I could, through my own means of searching online and a few phone calls, for anything about this nearly 100 year old piece. I found the serial number inside which would help determine the age. Then I contacted a website that helps novices get in touch with experts who will answer their questions… LOVED IT! I was starting to enjoy this treasure hunt more and more… When we got our response from the expert we were on the edge of our seats…Our Emerson Piano was made in 1916 and he gave us a lot of other helpful info regarding care and maintenance, kindly adding at the end of his reply “enjoy familiarizing yourself with one of these magnificent machines”. I continued to find that this was made during the “Golden Age of Piano Making” and “they were some of the best pianos ever made in history”. As you can imagine, I was pretty happy with all this unfolding information!
Soon I will post the before and after shots of the piano as I continue to refurbish (more than refinish) small spots that need attention on the original finish. Luckily nothing major, but I’m taking my time enjoying the process and looking forward to the reward of the final appearance. It happens to be in good condition but from being moved (at least a few times in the past) and also from being in houses with growing children there were several dings and scratches that I am filling and staining. Then I am going to go over the entire exterior of the piece with Briwax, which came highly recommended by several sources. I had to really hunt for it and found it finally, at Ace Hardware.
Like so many antiques there are a lot of quality details. Real Ivory keys (every one still works), the sound of the “Sweet Toned Emerson” is so enjoyable. Even when the little kids are just playing around it has a nice tone that doesn’t resemble any of their modern marvelous noise makers. What can I say, I just love it!
Another fun thing to do is to search Google for the chords to almost any song you like and print them out. There is so much information out there to take advantage of. I also found a lot of sheet music for children to print out. We plan on getting some of the highly rated kids music books on Amazon.com. There are even online piano lessons with teachers, piano lesson videos for beginners on You Tube, and don’t forget about the good old one on one piano lessons with a teacher. My oldest son (8 years) may be starting lessons at our new local community center nearby for a very reasonable rate. That way we can hopefully get a good start and have confidence to keep it up.
While anticipating the piano’s arrival I could not keep myself from scouring the internet for as much info as I could on the old Emerson Company and pianos like this. I found these adorable old advertisements and its great to see MY piano (the simple and classic mission style) in some of these antique newspaper and vintage color ads. Its fun letting imagination run away with me thinking…What was the mistress of the house like who first got to enjoy this piano when it was new in 1916? During the Edwardian Era what were she and her children wearing when they were enjoying this piano? And only a few years later, I can just see, the flapper girls playing and singing a long.
Added: March 28th, 2010 Tags: antiques, Briwax, Edwardian Era, Emerson piano, piano movers, refinish piano, Refinishing Antiques
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