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Thread: Piano Black Finish - Cleaning and Restoration

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  1. #1
    Senior Member Uncle Paul's Avatar
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    Piano Black Finish - Cleaning and Restoration

    I'm finally getting around to the XPL 200's I bought last month from Richard (http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/s...ad.php?t=26345) and was wondering if anyone knows what is safe to use for cleaning the piano black finish. So far I've limited it to water and a microfiber towel, but was wondering if cleaners such a sprayaway or 409 would be safe?

    The finish itself is mostly immaculate, but there are a few scratches that show a white primer or filler underneath. Does anybody have any experience filling these type of scratches? Is there some way to repair it to the original finish, or is there some soft of filler that could be polished?

    The scratches are fairly small, but very noticable due to the contrast. One scratch is about halfway down the back corner on the left speaker in the picture, another is 3/4 of the way done near the front of the right one.

    Thanks in advance for your input.
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    Senior Member svollmer's Avatar
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    I used to own a pair of Genesis Technology speakers that were black laquer. They recommended a very good carnuba wax. I used McQuire's paste wax: http://www.meguiarsdirect.com/detail/MEG+G7014J

    I own a black 1994 Ford Explorer (don't laugh! ) and have used McQuire's cleaner wax on it since new and people always comment on how good it looks. I'm assuming the finish on your JBL's are laquer or a clear coat finish - they sure look nice!

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    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
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    Of course it's spelled Meguiar's and the only one of their wax products I'd use on it is #7, a pure paste wax with no abrasives. But it will leave some residue. The best wax for black automobiles is Zymöl Carbon which leaves no residue even if you smear it on flat-black or black-rubber surfaces and it contains no cleaners or abrasives. It might work well for you. Is it possible those "scratches" are actually old dried wax?

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    Senior Member Uncle Paul's Avatar
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    I only wish they were dried wax! The scratches are definitely through the surface and into the white filler or primer underneath. Possibly 1/16 " deep. Outside of these few blemishes the surface is a flawless mirror black.

    I'm not going to digress into listening impressions in this thread, but these are fantastically smooth and articulate speakers in the areas that matter most to me. They deserve to look every bit as good as they sound.
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    Senior Member MikeBrewster77's Avatar
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    For general cleaning...

    This may help:
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    Senior Member Uncle Paul's Avatar
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    Thanks Mike! I thought I had read every post in the forum, and every document in the library about XPL's and piano finishes looking for exactly this.

    The scratches are small enough that I might be able to do the work myself. Since JBL used lacquer (as opposed to polyester) the repair process (oversimplified) is to fill with melted lacquer and polish like hell. I'll get some quotes before I decide if its worth doing myself or not.
    "Zobel is as zobel does"

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    How patient and how determined are you?

    To fill the scratches with black lacquer will likely not be easy, but it can be done. It will require many applications of lacquer polishing away the over spray... it might take 40 hours of diligent effort to have the scratches completely removed. Realize that lacquer will continue to shrink for months... this can't be fixed in a week. If you take it to a shop, the scratches will return over time as the lacquer shrinks. If you go this route, you will need abrasives. Don't go to a home improvement store go to an auto body supply house, they'll have the papers and polishes you need.

    If this doesn't appeal to you, you can do the simplest approach, try coloring in the scratches with a black Sharpie... a slightly better step would be to take "One Shot" sign painter's enamel, a glossy oil based paint, a small artist's brush and try to hand paint them out. The reason for the oil based enamel is that it is slow drying, giving you time to work and mineral spirits will clean it up if you have an oops which shouldn't affect the lacquer if used with care.


    I'll second the Zymol recommendation... it will give you the deepest gloss.



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    Senior Member svollmer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BMWCCA View Post
    Of course it's spelled Meguiar's and the only one of their wax products I'd use on it is #7, a pure paste wax with no abrasives. But it will leave some residue. The best wax for black automobiles is Zymöl Carbon which leaves no residue even if you smear it on flat-black or black-rubber surfaces and it contains no cleaners or abrasives. It might work well for you. Is it possible those "scratches" are actually old dried wax?


    Sorry Phil; it must be the Irish in me that slanted the spelling.

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    Junior Member hificanada's Avatar
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    I post some pic on what I used in restoring to bring back a factory mirror finish on old antique cars tomorrow, this should work well on your repair.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Krunchy's Avatar
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    Hi Uncle Paul, as has been suggested the car polish is the way to go, do not touch that 409 stuff, its like acid to a finish like that.
    Get yourself one of those orbital car polishing/buffers from home depot (Ryobi) probably about 30 bucks. Find an inconspicuos spot & give it a try, a lot of furniture shops use this method to give their high gloss finishes that mirror like finish/look. May even get some of the scratches out, bottom line is, unless you send them out to a shop it will require patience & elbow grease.
    Good luck & let us know how you make out.
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