Hi all,
In the early days, I loved shiny harpsichords. While these instruments did eventually sell, it took a while for me to realize that they didn’t really look like harpsichords. Now, after looking at hundreds of instruments, I have a better idea, and appreciation, for how they should look and sound. There’s nothing special about painting a harpsichord – no great skills are required, and no secret application methods are used. Basically, you put the paint on, you sand it off, put it on, sand it off, put it on, sand it off, until it gives you the look and level of quality you’re looking for. If I describe how I paint the case, it would be redundant to describe painting the music desk because the technique (or what passes for one) is the same. I’ll try to describe in more detail some of the more off-beat procedures like marbling, and papering. Let the yawning begin!
To get the quality paint job I’m looking for, we’ll treat the wood exactly as you would if you were using a clear finish. This means careful surface prep, painting, and sanding. I’ve tried many different paints, some of which were very expensive. Years ago, I settled on one and have been using it exclusively since then – Rust-oleam. It’s a heavy bodied, oil based paint that adheres well, sands well, is inexpensive, readily available, and can be purchased in quarts or spray cans. When using a light color like the Almond we’re using now, the paint will be the final finish – no clearcoat at all. Oil based topcoats will yellow or, if the paint is gray, turn green.
Before we start, let me thank Thomas Lemmens, who has been following this series all the way from Belgium. Thomas was kind enough to consolidate many of these posts into a smaller number of PDF files and send them to me. He has also sent the following photo, which shows the original 1644 version of the instrument we are building, on display in Antwerp. In it, you can clearly see the marbling on the case sides and the papering and lettering on the lid.
First, we’ll paint the keywell area (the area where the keyboard will live) with a couple of coats of black satin. This area is only barely visible in the completed instrument but still needs some paint to cover the bare pine bottom.
Next, we’ll mask off the soundboard and pinblock areas with some plastic sheeting and tape, and brush on two coats of Kilz2 latex sealer-primer. Any voids, nicks, etc. will show up under paint, so these defects are filled with Durham’s water putty, or Bondo glazing putty. Then we sand the primer almost all off and check and repair any defects again. Two more coats of Kilz are brushed on and the final coat is sanded with 400 grit paper on a ROS. At this point the case should be quite smooth and defect free (it never is but you do the best you can). At this point, we check for evenness of color. The marbling that will be applied to the case sides requires a white base, which the white pigmented Kilz gives us. If any of the red putty or tan water putty shows through we’ll give the case another coat of Kilz followed by another light sanding. Here’s the case, primed, and ready for paint.
Faux-marbled panels will be painted onto the cheek, bentside, and tail. The spine, which usually faces a wall, gets only paint – no marbling. Before we begin painting, we mask off the areas that will be marbled. The marbled panels will be bordered by a 3/8” wide gold band on the top and bottom and a 7/8” wide band of almond paint around the gold. So we’ll mask off the areas to be marbled with tape and 65lb. card stock.
We’ll begin by painting the case front and the unmasked areas of the sides. If there’s any secret to a good paint job, it’s in the sanding. We’ll put on paint and sand much of it off with 320 grit dry no-load paper and repeat the process. After 3 or 4 coats, we’ll switch to 400 grit wet/dry paper lubricated with water. At this point the finish is fairly level and it seems we’re sanding just to eliminate brush strokes. Subsequent coats are sprayed on using the same paint in rattle cans. We continue painting and sanding until we reach 1000 grit and there are no more little shiny spots in the finish. At this point, we’ll rub down the finish with 4/0 steel wool and then burnish it with a dry cloth. If a high-gloss is called for (which it isn’t) we’d continue the process through 2000 grit and then use an automotive polishing compound. This will produce a finish so shiny you can see yourself in it – just like shiny plastic. Here’s the case after the first coat. There’s not much sense in taking pictures of subsequent coats because the differences won’t show up in photos.
Although I add a little japan drier to the paint to help speed up drying, I like to let each coat dry for 24 to 36 hours before sanding. Testing the effectiveness of my compressor’s air gun is something I avoid while the paint is still wet. Other than that, I don’t worry about dust getting on the finish. Each coat will be sanded anyway and that will take care of any dust settling on the finish.
About a week has past since the painting started. While waiting for the case paint to dry, I worked on smaller parts of the instrument. The next photo shows the finished action end blocks.
Next is the hook end of the finished jackrail.
Next is the finished music desk assembly.
The nameboard battan is the strip of wood directly behind the keys that identifies the builder of the instrument (see Part 16). ln the old days, the text was applied to the painted wood using rub-on transfer letters, which are no longer being manufactured, or hand painted, which I don’t have the skill to do. Today, the computer allows us to make our own decals but the process is more trouble than it’s worth for me. Instead, we’ll design a full sized printout, text and color, and glue it to the nameboard battan like wallpaper. In this case, we can leave the white background because a few coats of clear shellac will color the paper to match the almond paint very closely. Here’s the nameboard battan wallpaper being printed.
The molding cut into the top of the battan is colored gold.
The printout is glued to the battan using cold hide glue. If the paper is too thin it will buckle and blister so we use 90lb. stock which is thick enough to resist the moisture in the glue. Here is the result, before the shellac is added.
And here it is after several coats of shellac.
Back now to the case, which has several coats of paint on it. The final coat was sanded lightly with 1000 wet/dry paper, rubbed with 4/0 steel wool, and burnished with a dry cloth. After the masking is removed we’re left with paint on the top 1 ¼” and the bottom 1 ½” of the cheek, bentside, and tail. We leave an extra ¼” of paint on the bottom for reasons of balance. When the lid (which we haven’t made yet) is closed, its thickness added to the top 1 ¼” stripe will out balance the bottom stripe. The extra ¼” on the bottom helps to even that lack of symmetry out. The next photos shows the case as it stands now.
The last thing we’ll do before taking a break is to gold leaf all the case moldings (using paint). While we’ve done this before, I don’t think I described the process at all. In order to successfully mimic gold leaf, the paint must be applied in a very thin layer. The moldings must be sanded as smoothly as possible – just like we would do if using real gold leaf. The almond paint that is on the moldings now makes an excellent sealer for the wood but is far too slick to accept the paint. This means sanding.... and a lot of it. Using thin strips of 320 grit paper folded to a crease, we’ll try to get into every crevice of the molding.
On some of the other pieces, like the nameboard battan, that have no paint on the molding, we brush on a few coats of shellac and sand as above. Bottom line is the molding must be smooth – any flaws will show through the thin gold paint.
The last 3 photos show the results of two weeks work. Yes, painting is tedious, boring, time consuming, and sometimes frustrating.
Next time we’ll get some paint on the bench and tackle something far more interesting - faux-marbling of the case. The ‘dog days’ are almost over. Thanks for following along with me.
Ernie
In the early days, I loved shiny harpsichords. While these instruments did eventually sell, it took a while for me to realize that they didn’t really look like harpsichords. Now, after looking at hundreds of instruments, I have a better idea, and appreciation, for how they should look and sound. There’s nothing special about painting a harpsichord – no great skills are required, and no secret application methods are used. Basically, you put the paint on, you sand it off, put it on, sand it off, put it on, sand it off, until it gives you the look and level of quality you’re looking for. If I describe how I paint the case, it would be redundant to describe painting the music desk because the technique (or what passes for one) is the same. I’ll try to describe in more detail some of the more off-beat procedures like marbling, and papering. Let the yawning begin!
To get the quality paint job I’m looking for, we’ll treat the wood exactly as you would if you were using a clear finish. This means careful surface prep, painting, and sanding. I’ve tried many different paints, some of which were very expensive. Years ago, I settled on one and have been using it exclusively since then – Rust-oleam. It’s a heavy bodied, oil based paint that adheres well, sands well, is inexpensive, readily available, and can be purchased in quarts or spray cans. When using a light color like the Almond we’re using now, the paint will be the final finish – no clearcoat at all. Oil based topcoats will yellow or, if the paint is gray, turn green.
Before we start, let me thank Thomas Lemmens, who has been following this series all the way from Belgium. Thomas was kind enough to consolidate many of these posts into a smaller number of PDF files and send them to me. He has also sent the following photo, which shows the original 1644 version of the instrument we are building, on display in Antwerp. In it, you can clearly see the marbling on the case sides and the papering and lettering on the lid.
First, we’ll paint the keywell area (the area where the keyboard will live) with a couple of coats of black satin. This area is only barely visible in the completed instrument but still needs some paint to cover the bare pine bottom.
Next, we’ll mask off the soundboard and pinblock areas with some plastic sheeting and tape, and brush on two coats of Kilz2 latex sealer-primer. Any voids, nicks, etc. will show up under paint, so these defects are filled with Durham’s water putty, or Bondo glazing putty. Then we sand the primer almost all off and check and repair any defects again. Two more coats of Kilz are brushed on and the final coat is sanded with 400 grit paper on a ROS. At this point the case should be quite smooth and defect free (it never is but you do the best you can). At this point, we check for evenness of color. The marbling that will be applied to the case sides requires a white base, which the white pigmented Kilz gives us. If any of the red putty or tan water putty shows through we’ll give the case another coat of Kilz followed by another light sanding. Here’s the case, primed, and ready for paint.
Faux-marbled panels will be painted onto the cheek, bentside, and tail. The spine, which usually faces a wall, gets only paint – no marbling. Before we begin painting, we mask off the areas that will be marbled. The marbled panels will be bordered by a 3/8” wide gold band on the top and bottom and a 7/8” wide band of almond paint around the gold. So we’ll mask off the areas to be marbled with tape and 65lb. card stock.
We’ll begin by painting the case front and the unmasked areas of the sides. If there’s any secret to a good paint job, it’s in the sanding. We’ll put on paint and sand much of it off with 320 grit dry no-load paper and repeat the process. After 3 or 4 coats, we’ll switch to 400 grit wet/dry paper lubricated with water. At this point the finish is fairly level and it seems we’re sanding just to eliminate brush strokes. Subsequent coats are sprayed on using the same paint in rattle cans. We continue painting and sanding until we reach 1000 grit and there are no more little shiny spots in the finish. At this point, we’ll rub down the finish with 4/0 steel wool and then burnish it with a dry cloth. If a high-gloss is called for (which it isn’t) we’d continue the process through 2000 grit and then use an automotive polishing compound. This will produce a finish so shiny you can see yourself in it – just like shiny plastic. Here’s the case after the first coat. There’s not much sense in taking pictures of subsequent coats because the differences won’t show up in photos.
Although I add a little japan drier to the paint to help speed up drying, I like to let each coat dry for 24 to 36 hours before sanding. Testing the effectiveness of my compressor’s air gun is something I avoid while the paint is still wet. Other than that, I don’t worry about dust getting on the finish. Each coat will be sanded anyway and that will take care of any dust settling on the finish.
About a week has past since the painting started. While waiting for the case paint to dry, I worked on smaller parts of the instrument. The next photo shows the finished action end blocks.
Next is the hook end of the finished jackrail.
Next is the finished music desk assembly.
The nameboard battan is the strip of wood directly behind the keys that identifies the builder of the instrument (see Part 16). ln the old days, the text was applied to the painted wood using rub-on transfer letters, which are no longer being manufactured, or hand painted, which I don’t have the skill to do. Today, the computer allows us to make our own decals but the process is more trouble than it’s worth for me. Instead, we’ll design a full sized printout, text and color, and glue it to the nameboard battan like wallpaper. In this case, we can leave the white background because a few coats of clear shellac will color the paper to match the almond paint very closely. Here’s the nameboard battan wallpaper being printed.
The molding cut into the top of the battan is colored gold.
The printout is glued to the battan using cold hide glue. If the paper is too thin it will buckle and blister so we use 90lb. stock which is thick enough to resist the moisture in the glue. Here is the result, before the shellac is added.
And here it is after several coats of shellac.
Back now to the case, which has several coats of paint on it. The final coat was sanded lightly with 1000 wet/dry paper, rubbed with 4/0 steel wool, and burnished with a dry cloth. After the masking is removed we’re left with paint on the top 1 ¼” and the bottom 1 ½” of the cheek, bentside, and tail. We leave an extra ¼” of paint on the bottom for reasons of balance. When the lid (which we haven’t made yet) is closed, its thickness added to the top 1 ¼” stripe will out balance the bottom stripe. The extra ¼” on the bottom helps to even that lack of symmetry out. The next photos shows the case as it stands now.
The last thing we’ll do before taking a break is to gold leaf all the case moldings (using paint). While we’ve done this before, I don’t think I described the process at all. In order to successfully mimic gold leaf, the paint must be applied in a very thin layer. The moldings must be sanded as smoothly as possible – just like we would do if using real gold leaf. The almond paint that is on the moldings now makes an excellent sealer for the wood but is far too slick to accept the paint. This means sanding.... and a lot of it. Using thin strips of 320 grit paper folded to a crease, we’ll try to get into every crevice of the molding.
On some of the other pieces, like the nameboard battan, that have no paint on the molding, we brush on a few coats of shellac and sand as above. Bottom line is the molding must be smooth – any flaws will show through the thin gold paint.
The last 3 photos show the results of two weeks work. Yes, painting is tedious, boring, time consuming, and sometimes frustrating.
Next time we’ll get some paint on the bench and tackle something far more interesting - faux-marbling of the case. The ‘dog days’ are almost over. Thanks for following along with me.
Ernie
