Shiny Show Off

[freekey]

I have been chipping away at two Rhodes restorations and instead of trying to make some of the bits shiny myself, I decided to try a local polishing shop. I am super pleased with the results and thought I would share. The gentlemen that I took the parts to was quite a character. He was covered from head to toe in polishing compound, missing two fingers and eating soup! What a hard way to make a living.

[freekey]

I wanted to expand on this and share what I have learned in my research regarding polishing and protecting the alloy parts on your piano. Combing the threads, I found three approaches to protecting your polished pieces. One approach is to paint a clear coat. Second approach is to do a clear power coat. Third approach is to protect with a wax or wenol type product and rebuff from time to time.

I am fortunate (I suppose) to work in an area that is rather industrial. There happens to be a lot of industrial platers, polishing shops, and painters close by. There is also a pretty big low rider, hot rod, custom car culture in the area as well. Because of this, I was able to chat with various pros and connoisseurs in their respective trade... quite the adventure in itself. While each approach will work, the advice that was most recommended across trades was the third approach, (wax and rebuff from time to time).

With the painted clear coat option I received inconclusive and confusing direction. There seemed to be concern with the paint adhering to the polished surface. There was also concern about yellowing of the paint over time.

The clear powder coat option is a good option. Everybody I spoke with said that it would work, however since this piano is going to sit in a studio everybody thought it would be overkill to powder coat the pieces. Also the protection is only as good as the quality of the powder coat and for the pieces that get used, like the sustain pedals, there was concern that coating will eventually wear off.

I did not explore the possible fourth approach of doing a clear anodization coat, but will have the opportunity to question the anno shop that does work for my day job in the near future.

Anyways, I hope this info is helpful, I certainly enjoyed the process. Cheers.

[Student Rhodes]

Hey,
I did the same thing to the foot pedal for a Seventy Three Stage Model I gave a friend.  A couple other Rhodes people I know thought it was a bit overkill, bordering on gaudy, but I liked it.  I also went so far as to get an aluminum knob for the legs, which was also polished to a mirror finish.

Thought about doing the legs to one of my suitcase pianos, but because they're anodized I didn't bother, especially after I had a name rail polished and didn't care for the result.  It just looked like dullish stainless steel, rather than the mirror I'd hoped for.  Perhaps chrome plating a name rail will give the effect I'd envisioned.

[freekey]

My suitcase legs were your typical grey satin (annodized?) rhodes suitcase leges. They were very beat up.