Facelift for an Old Church Piano

Probably one of the most abused pieces of equipment in any church are the pianos that are mounted on rolling platforms and moved from room to room.  Every time they are moved through a door they tend to get banged up, beat up, and scratched up.  Over the years (and decades) the scars really begin to show.  Once a piano begins to show these scars, people don't seem to worry about banging it up even more.  After all, it is just an old beat-up piano.

The piano in this Instructable was being used in my wife's Sunday School room, and one day I decided to try to make it a little more presentable.  Please note that this piano wasn't a priceless antique -- it was just a cheap old beat-up piano.  Although it functioned just fine, as you can see from the photos, it looked like it had suffered through a lot in its life.

Because this piano was going to require a lot of wood filler, I decided against using a stain and varnish.  I was afraid I would never get the wood filler to match the grain (and stain), so I decided the end result would look better if I painted this piano black.   Again, this piano was not some priceless antique.

The materials and tools used were as follows:

Tools:
- screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers (to remove the top, front, and bottom panel)
- orbital sander
- paintbrush
- large vinyl tarp (to protect the floor)
- shop vacuum cleaner

Materials:
- wood filler -- LOTS of wood filler!
- sandpaper (150 grit, 220 grit, 400 grit)
- oil based satin black paint
- masking tape
- old newspapers

I also had supervision......lot's of supervision as you can see in the photo!

First, remove all panels that are removable.  For this piano that included the top and front (as one unit) and the lower front panel.  I thought about removing the keyboard cover, but decided to leave it in place.  Each piano is different, but it is not difficult to figure out how these panels come off.

Once the panels are removed, use masking tape and newspapers to cover all the open space from the removed panels and the keyboard.  Be fastidious in sealing these areas, because you don't want dust from sanding (or paint) to get into the part of the piano that makes the music!

Before I began sanding, I got my large can of fresh wood filler and begin filling in all the missing chunks of wood.  Where I needed a build-up of more than 1/8th inch, I built the filler up in layers, allowing each layer to harden (and shrink) before adding more.  In some places I had to build up layers that were around 3/8ths inch thick.

Once all the chips, dings, and missing chunks were filled, I was ready to begin sanding.

When you paint over an existing finish, the purpose of sanding is two-fold: (1) you obviously want to make the surface smooth, and (2) you need to break the glaze of the old finish so the new finish will adhere to it.

For large flat surfaces, I broke out my trusty orbital sander, and fortunately, a piano has a lot of large flat surfaces!

For smaller flat surfaces, and where I had to use wood filler, I block sanded these areas by hand.  I began with 150 grit paper, then moved to 220 grit, then 400 grit.

After sanding, I carefully vacuumed the dust from behind where the lower panel mounted, and from all exposed surfaces, including the tarp I had placed on the floor.

Because I had to do all the work on this piano inside a classroom, spraying the finish was not an option.  The finish would have to be brushed on.

Before painting, I carefully wiped down all surfaces with mineral spirits to remove all the dust and to remove any oils deposited from my hands.

Then I got out a set of the best brushes I had and began applying the first coat.  I let this coat dry for 24 hours and then lightly sanded it with 400 grit paper, wiped it down once again, and applied a 2nd coat.

Twenty-four hours after applying the final coat, I removed all the masking tape and newspapers, reassembled the piano, and reattached the hardware.

This piano should be good for another decade or two, and hopefully when it once again gets beat up, someone else will come along and refinish it!

This was a simple project, although it did take many hours to complete.  All-in-all I worked on it off and on for about four days, including the time required to allow the paint to dry.