About a month or so ago, I decided to put a coat of "Poly-Stain", from
Ace Hardware, on my player.  I put a light coat on most of the case,
and a heavier coat on the two spoolbox access doors.  To make a long
story short, the piano went from looking "old" to looking "not very
good, and probably worse than it did at first."

Yesterday I saw a nice picture of a player on the Web that made me
decide to strip off the new stain.  I did this more easily done than
said by using a mat knife razor blade and drawing it across the surface
of the wood at an angle.  The polyurethane stain came off very quickly.
I am pleased with the results -- now my piano looks the way it did when
I first got it, except for the player action.

If you think the original finish on your piano is ugly, just wait and
be patient before going on the ultimate refinishing job.  You may well
prefer the original finish to the new, later on.

Luke Myers
ldmyers95@gmail.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

 [ Picture of Jesse French Player Piano
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/16/12/27/161227_120036_Jesse%20French%20Piano%20-%20Original%20Finish.jpg