Before and After: Steinway Piano Bench

This bench came with the Steinway and Sons Model M Grand Piano.   I decided to refinish the bench to at least improve the looks.  I ended up replacing the lid latch, cleaning and repainting the interior hardware, stripping the exterior brass trim and resealing it, stripping the old finish off, restaining it, reinforcing the music storage bottom piece and installation of new screws and cup washers 

the bench was really chipped and pitted up.  It had damage beyond the veneer which proved to be a challenge since i did not want to actually paint on the seat to cover some of the damage. 

the top stripped up very well with the exception of the bottom right corner.  That location had extensive damage, and I elected to just leave it alone and let it show.

The legs were really damaged but were solid wood.  The wood was able to be sanded to remove any defects in the finish.  The leg on the left was original.  The leg on the left was after sanding.

The brass trim on the bottom of the legs did clean up well.  the three on the left after cleaning.  The one on the right was before cleaning.  What a difference!

Here is the finished product.  

Looking at the leg detail shows how great the legs cleaned up along with the brass trim.

The interior looks great since the bottom of the music storage area had been stripped, stained and varnished.  Also, the bottom was secured with stainless steel screws and cup washers.

The view here shows how well the legs look now and how the brass trim really pops!