What a wonderful story! My brother did something similar with the piano that we grew up with, that my parents bought in the early 1960's. It was more of an art-deco style, as I recall, and he said that after restoration it just glows, and his daughter has learned to play on it. He has the income to have someone else do it. I work for the state. . . RR, how did you go about laying it flat? One of the remarks above says that is necessary (and certainly sounds prudent--gravity being a major factor when weaving all of those strings into place!)

This piano of mine came from my great aunt's house in Connecticut, and I've had it since the mid-1980's. I used to play it a lot, but with kids and work I haven't had time and it has shifted into an uncomfortable level of out-of-tuneness. And it's blocked by furniture in our tiny apartment, in my daughter's bedroom. She'll be glad to see it with a place of it's own soon. Nice large livingroom with cathedral ceiling for (hopefully) good acoustics. (And yes, I know, I should be playing for the kids. I do, on occasion, and I will a lot more once we move. There are times when I'm just dying to sit down to play, and have to wait until the feeling passes. Maybe I should take up the guitar since it's more portable?)

Maggie