French Polishing

Completing your Piano Restoration

French Polishing

The final touch – restoring your piano to its former glory

There is little argument amongst piano lovers, players and owners, that the pièce de résistance of an antique piano restoration project is the aspect of French polishing.

French polishing is the meticulous, labour-intensive method of bringing back the original beauty of the wooden case, right from the day it left the showroom. It was the method of choice for thousands of piano manufacturers from yesteryear (think 80 to 150+ years ago!)

This traditional method begins by stripping off the existing finish back to bare veneer, then sanding, replacing damaged or missing pieces of veneer and moulding, filling dents, staining, grain filling, brushing; then many iterations of hand-applying thin layers of shellac polish to build up a gorgeous, natural and protective finish.

French polishing pianos is considered elegant and superior to the faster and cheaper modern method of spraying a lacquer, which usually produces a plasticky appearance. French polishing produces a unique finish that is durable, long-lasting and easy to repair in the case of damage. Thus, the financial investment is believed to be worthwhile if you hope to keep the piano for many more generations.

Most antique pianos would have been originally French polished in the factory, and as we intrinsically believe in accurately restoring pianos to as close to original as possible, we always highly recommend considering French polishing for your beautiful instrument.

Benefits of French Polishing

  • Authentic – Truly bringing your beautiful old piano back to its original grandeur

  • Easy and affordable to maintain, and repair damage – chips, scratches, wear and tear, etc
  • Organic – Shellac is a 100% organic product – natural, non-toxic and safe

  • Long term investment – raises the value of the piano

Tailored projects to meet your needs

We can customise any job to achieve a matte, semi-gloss or high gloss finish, depending on the customer’s wishes.

A typical project takes a minimum of 100 hours to complete (and concert grand pianos over 200 hours), which is a labour of mostly love (and only a little of blood, sweat and tears)!

In some cases we may be able to “over-polish” the existing finish, which would cut down considerably on the labour time.

Melbourne’s Premier Piano French Polishers

Our team of in-house French polishers have combined experience of over 30 years. We have completed many unique restorations for our customers and can work with you to create a customised project for your requirements. We can accommodate standalone projects for case repair and polishing, as well as building it into the quote for a wider restoration job. For more information on our piano restoration services, click here.

To discuss whether your piano would benefit from French Polishing, and for any other enquiries you may have, please contact us here.

We're Melbourne's Best Piano French Polishers

Our team of in-house French polishers have combined experience of over 30 years. We have completed many unique restorations for our customers and can work with you to create a customised project for your requirements. We can accommodate standalone projects for case repair and polishing, as well as building it into the quote for a wider restoration job. For more information on our piano restoration services, click here.

To discuss whether your piano would benefit from French Polishing, and for any other enquiries you may have, please contact us here.