1898 Steinway Upright

Nashville Used Pianos / Nashville Piano Shop

This 1898 Steinway vertical (upright) piano is currently being restored.

Flamed mahogany with original ivory keys.

This wonderful Steinway upright was purchased sight unseen from a less than masterful tech up in New England. I was told that the finish was 90% complete and all it needed was to be strung up. Wow! Far from true. Although it looks rather nice from this picture, you can not see the finish runs, open pours and sanding mistakes. The only option for me is to strip it all down again, sand out the beautiful flamed mahogany, rub it with mahogany stain, fill the pours and do my usual multi coat hand rubbed lacquer finish.

After removing all the cabinet structures including the key bed, the sound board and plate are exposed and ready for restoration. It was very common to only gild the top half of the plates back in the day. I have replicated this in the past but have not been satisfied. I will gild all of this plate.

The plate is removed from the piano so that gilding can be performed.

The plate gilding process is complete including felting, lettering and logo replacement.

Above, all the cabinet pieces have been stripped, sanded, stained and the grain filling process is under way.

Please check back to see the progress of this restoration.