In modern terminology as in the refinishing industry,the term refers to making it black. If the piano was originally black,it is a given that the piano should stay black. There are times whereas some owner in the piano's history might have refinished the piano in a wood finish. In most cases original ebonized pianos do not have a veneer consistency throughout. In that the piano was black it would not look good with different veneers on various parts of the piano.
When a piano was ebonized in the old days,even after you strip the piano,it will still be black. If one wanted some wood tone finish one wouldd have to bleach the wood to rid the black. Not advisable in the long term. Bleach is not a good thing for wood or anything except maybe doing your whites at the laundrymat.

Actually a high end ebony satin finish is more difficult to do than a satin wood finish. Of course the exception being if the wood finish cabinet is thrashed with multiple gouges and veneer damage. Imperfections on a wood satin finish piano is technically less visible than on a black piano.

I heard that on some pianos that are painted black (older ones) That if you strip it to try and make a wood finish, you may be fairly disappointed, as some used many different unmatched woods, therefor, making the piano multicolored! :S

I would think that it would be, being all one solid color. You can see any inconsistencies, whereas on a wood grain satin model you already have the inconsistencies to mask it.

So, do they stain it black then coat with finish of whatever type is appropriate? Or do they paint? I've always wondered about how they actually go about doing it, I hope that somebody can reveal it, and that it's not trade secrets.

Ok, how about this: I've seen pictures of what is advertised as satin black but the underside of the lid is polished mirror-like, I suppose to reflect the bright shinyness of the golden plate and strings. How common is that, and is it only done on certain tiers of piano? I can't remember off hand what make I saw it in.

I know that these are a bunch of stupid questions, but you guys seem to have all of the answers so I figure that I might as well keep going. Maybe I'll learn something. Please let me know if it gets annoying.

Thanks,
James

Ebonizing is staining black then laquering over. Original evonized pianos, when stripped, frequently show mismatched vineers because they could.

In this day and age there are numerous approaches /methods to doing an ebony satin finish. Back in the stoneage,actually not that long ago,I've heard persons french polishing an entire piano in a week. Think about it...What kind of coverage could one get, hand staining a black / ebony piano. The majority of piano finishes with the exception of oak,pecan or ? are a closed pore finish.In the past and present,one still needs to seal the pores. The traditional way was with sanding sealer followed by multiple color or clears coats sanded and rubbed out with steel wool,abrasive pads,pumus,ajax or ? In modern times many use a poly /primer coat to initially fill the pores before or after coloring the piano.

In an ebony satin finish whether using lacquer,polyurethane or polyester we always shoot the color coat followed by multiple clear coats.In essance we rub out the clear coat not the black colorcoat. That way you get that reflective quality in a hand rubbed satin finish. That was a crude and concise explanation of an ebony satin finish!

On the underside of the lid ,many may claim that they are doing something over and beyond the call of duty in making it highgloss but in reality one does not have to colorsand the underside and rub it out.If the factory is at higher efficiency doing high gloss polyester than they'll do it. Confusing huh!

2012

If the piano is old and has been rebuilt, the only thing "Steinway" about it may be the plate, the rim, and the decal on the fallboard.

Hello Andy. If you check the dates on this thread, you will see it is over 2.5 years old. Advertising in the classifieds is good. Dragging your classified ad into a forum thread is not the same.

Otherwise, welcome.

Sorry Sam.
Not familiar with forum etiquette.

As you can see I have deleted my previous comment.
A.W.

No problem...and welcome to the piano Forum.

I have a Hamburg "B" from 1967. Original action, no teflon.

Dear Furtwangler,

pls. specify: would you opt for the last versions with Appalachian white spruce soundboard, or opt for the first versions with Sitka spruce from Alaska ranges?
;-)

There is another "issue" related to building years besides of the "Teflon rocky horror picture show"..

:P

I don't know the exact years of production. In years around the 30ies?, 40ies? 50ies? Steinway used in their grand mechanisms, flanges, repetitions axes/wires with a galvanized copper overlay to protect the steel wire against corrosion.

..and what happened? Not the steel but the copper corroded.. ..

"vertigris".

The forces needed to lift a hammer increase, to lift a repetition, et cetera.

I bought a set of hammers and another set of repetitions both w. vertigris, obviosly extracted at the New York plant, and some clever guys had picked it out of the scap box - to sell it on ebay.. ;-)

Vertigris also to be checked and avoided.

Just my idea of a little humor Bernd

The New York Yankees (with Babe Ruth) in 1927 had great success including winning the World Series of baseball.

This team is widely considered to be the best baseball team ever

Verdigris is not uncommon in any brand of piano. It is not unique to Steinway.