Help - How to Get the Hammers Out of an Old Erard Piano?

Skip to around 5:15 for the piano stuff.

Hi guys. Having real trouble figuring out how to get the hammers out of this Parisian Erard. Instead of screws behind the jack to loosen the hammers, the screws seem to be holding on a brass plate... same on the back above the damper spoons, which in this case are thick wooden fingers, making it impossible to get a screwdriver in there. What is this madness? Although, the way it's built, I guess they expected it to last forever. It's extremely sturdy. 

Any advice much appreciated.

Reconnecting with Alex!

Driving around Kigali getting piano stuff done. Dropping in on an old friend from the early days of the Kigali Keys project!

Piano Update

 

Long overdue piano update from Rwanda.

Tuning at the Memorial Centre

Tuning a Petrof Czech upright at Kigali Genocide Memorial in Gisozi today for Masharika. A play about survivors' experiences as part of Ubumuntu Arts Festival.

Getting Rid of Mould in a Piano

One of our family pianos has a white mould issue, so I'm taking it apart, cleaning it up and spraying it with a liberal amount of mould killer. 

This is the same piano a couple of months later...

Found Clothes Moths in a Piano!

Doing a little piano repair in the UK at the moment and came across the craziest thing!

Restoring a Player Piano Playlist

Hi guys. Here's the full lowdown on the restoration project so far. We'll add more to this if the project goes any further. In video one we're putting on the new strings, in video two the piano's owner takes us through restoring the bellows and mechanism, and in the final one there's some unhappy tuning news. 

New Workshop and Player Piano Restoration

Hi guys. Sorry for the silence, we've mostly moved over to YouTube now - you can find us on the Kigali Keys channel. Here's what we've been up to lately.

Restringing at the Music School

We've been doing a bit of restringing for our local Community Music School. They're a fabulous place that offer free lessons to local kids who wouldn't otherwise be able to learn music. If you're living in Kigali, check them out.

Assessing a Broken Vintage Piano in Bugesera

Took a drive out to Bugesera, about 40 minutes outside Kigali, earlier this year. Struggling to date this unbranded piano, but happy to help restore it. 

Cleaning Your Key Bed

 

Here's a little video we made about how to clean a piano key bed.

Piano Tuner on the Move...

 

Come with us off-roading in search of a piano to tune!

 

Hi everyone. We have a private seller with a Korean Samick for sale. $2,000 (negotiable). It's a very pretty piano. Just a reminder that we also offer a Buyer Backup service where we can come and look it over before you buy.

A Little Rwandan Jazz

We're back in action!

 

Sorry that this update has been so long in the making!

How Many Pieces in a Piano

 

This is absolutely fascinating!

New Year, New Start

 

Hi everyone - Happy 2023.

We know we've been exceedingly quiet the past couple of years. We were slowing down even before COVID, then that sort of put a halt on things and we found it hard to get going again. If you want a refresher on the entire piano-building story to date, here's a brief recap with pictures and videos.

With the start of the new year, we've officially set ourselves up as a tuning and repair business. Check out our shiny new website. We're also pressing ahead with the piano build. There'll be a video about that shortly and we're going to try to make more frequent updates here and on our social media - although not Instagram, due to two-step authentication and a missing mobile phone, we no longer have access to that. But we'll update everything else!

Let's get this piano built.

Back to it!

Wonderful to meet Pierre the other day. A piano enthusiast who passed by to take a look at our workshop. We've had a long break over COVID but we're planning to get back to the project in the New Year. Keep an eye on our social media. Unfortunately we've been locked out of our Instagram account and can't get back in, but we're still active on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Reviving the Thomas Dawkins Mystery

 

Marion is currently visiting family in the UK for Christmas and took another look at the Thomas Dawkins issue. What's your best guess?

Action Rod Appeal

Hi everyone, so sorry for the lack of updates lately. All explained in the video above. We currently need help sourcing action rods. Please share with any contacts you might have.