Heintzman Upright Piano Restoration
Picture 1: The Gerhard Heintzman company built pianos in Toronto, Canada from 1881 - 1925. The serial number shown - 18695 is listed in the piano atlas as indeed being built in 1910, which a technician has written on the plate. Having successfully done reconditioning work on several Gerhard Heintzman pianos we have decided to follow through with some significant upgrading to this piano.
Picture 2: Inspection of the soundboard of this instrument shows minor cracks only to the soundboard. Repairs will be made to insure there are no separation between the soundboard and the ribs.
Picture 3: The body of the piano has been dismantled. The action, bottom pedal board, and the keybed have all been removed for easy access to repair any bridge issues and for restringing purposes. Measurements of the pins, strings and stringing pattern have already been taken. You can see that the tuning pins and strings have been discarded.
Picture 4: While a complete refinishing of the cabinet on this piano is not planned for, there are some damaged areas which will require repairs. Areas where the wood has been gauged out are shown with a very hard bonded filler application. This will set until we are finished with the interior work.
Picture 5: The keybed has been reinstalled in the piano and havebeen stripped of the Key frame so that repairs can be made. Notice that the shims for underneath the frame have been left in place so the height and fit of the key frame will remain in the original position.
Picture 6: The key frame has been reset onto the key bed and new back rail cloth has been glued in place.
Picture 7: This picture shows the action with original dampers and hammers. String groves can be seen in the hammers and the picture shows old hard felt of the dampers as well. Both will be replaced.
Picture 8: The action picture shows the inconsistent spacing of the hammers.
Picture 9: This picture shows how some of the key tops have been filed incorrectly causing "hourglass" shaping of the keys. This gives the keyboard an inconsistent spacing and overall look.
Picture 10: The old key tops are being removed and new key tops with fronts are replacing the entire set, so that we can build up the sides of the keys that have wood sanded away and give the keys new, proper square spacing.
FOLLOW THE PROGRESS OF THIS PROJECT AS UPDATES ARE MADE!!!