The ornately carved wooden stand of our beloved 1900s piano has always been a bit fragile since we got it. It had suffered some previous damage, with a large split arching horizontally across it... looking like someone had dropped something on it. It had been repaired, not well... but enough to hold up. But recently, the repairs gave up completely... and the split opened up and broke.

Now, we have been talking to the local woodworking guild... and they have told us quite a lot more about the instrument as well as pointing us to various people who might be able to help with the repairs and restoration. Needless to say, it isn't a simple workcrafting job!

One of the first things that we found out about... was the whole piano is covered in a walnut burl veneer... which is apparently pretty unusual and rare... and now, quite difficult to get hold of in large quantities. But the stand itself, was carved direct from a single piece of walnut burl wood... and it was bookended, so that the two halves are mirror images of each other in terms of the wood graining!

The crafters that we had shown it to were amazed by the detail and craftmanship... a legacy of a different age!

... but that meant that it wasn't a simple patch job... at least no-one was game enough to try it as they were scared that they wouldn't be able to do it justice. Well, that's not quite true... there was one experienced guy who said that he would be able to do it, but it would be a very long and careful job to repair, restore, and reinforce... and he was going to through life issues at the moment, and wouldn't be able to fit it in easily until later down the track.

But we did manage to get two leads to specialist antique restorers, who would be able to do it... for a price. My wife got in contact with one, and they are pretty keen on it! And in the end, it wasn't as pricy as we were fearing... we have sent the photos, and they will want to take a physical look at the thing later in the week!

... but for the moment, this is the replacement hack job... a travel music stand sitting on top of a harpsichord faceplate... not elegant, but it will be functional enough until the repairs are done.

I do miss seeing that old stand though... funny how some of these things can bring unexpected joy to you when they happen to cross your field of vision!

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