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00:00Up next on American Restoration.
00:02Hey, Rick, George Clinton's here!
00:04The George Clinton?
00:05There's a lot of memories in this piano.
00:07They look pretty funky, right?
00:08This has been abused a bit.
00:10Might find my stash in there somewhere.
00:12I can see cracks in the soundboard.
00:15If this soundboard is busted, we're in serious trouble.
00:17Oh, my God.
00:19So this whole side got in the water, basically, right?
00:21This is wasted.
00:22I know we restore stuff, but this here is beyond restoring.
00:28I'm Rick Dale, and at my shop, we share a passion.
00:34To give new life to pieces from the past.
00:40Every project has its challenges, but there's no job we can't handle.
00:46This is American Restoration.
00:53Hey, Rick! George Clinton's here!
00:55What the hell?
00:56The George Clinton?
01:00George Clinton is music royalty.
01:03He was a major pioneer in funk music.
01:05He's the mastermind behind the legendary bands Funkadelic and Parliament.
01:09And he's a rock and roll hall of famer.
01:12This guy is so cool, he can use ice cubes in a fur coat in the middle of a heat
01:16wave.
01:17Hey!
01:17What's happening?
01:19Great to meet you.
01:20How are you?
01:21It's an honor.
01:22Today I brought my son Tracy, his son Treze, and a very special piano.
01:30That's pretty wild.
01:31But this is my baby here.
01:33There's a lot of memories in this piano.
01:35What's the deal with it?
01:36This is in my house back in Detroit.
01:39And did a lot of writing on the piano.
01:41Really?
01:41Songs like We Want the Funk, Flashlight, you know, Tommy Dog and Sly Stone played on it.
01:48Wow.
01:49Charlie Wilson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers when they came to my house today.
01:52They used to bang on it too.
01:54Wow.
01:54If this piano could talk, the stories it could tell would blow my mind.
01:58This is a bona fide piece of funk history.
02:02So this is a chicory.
02:03Right.
02:04Yeah.
02:04This is 1920.
02:05It's almost 100 years old.
02:06That's what I thought.
02:07Yeah.
02:08This company started in the, like, 1820s.
02:11On the bottom here, it has a harp.
02:13Oh, that is a harp.
02:14Maybe by my stashiness.
02:18This company was the first one to build these harps out of cast iron.
02:21So when they ran the strings through there, they could tighten them up really tight without it stretching the wood.
02:27So this is a good piano.
02:29It's got good roots, you know?
02:30Yeah, that's what funk is about.
02:32Yes, it is.
02:32You have to have the roots.
02:33That's right.
02:35It looked pretty funky, right?
02:37So what happened to it?
02:38You know, we had a couple of floods in the storage place.
02:41And it was maybe on like this, right?
02:42Like sitting up and down like that.
02:44Upside down, yeah.
02:44I mean, it's really funky in the bad sense of the word.
02:47I'll tell you what we want to do with it.
02:48Make it look like it's Elton John's piano.
02:51Really?
02:51Yeah.
02:51That nice.
02:52Pretty pretty.
02:53Elton John.
02:55We'll have to re-veneer all the wood, polish these out.
02:58You know, put some legs on it.
02:59I don't know a lot about pianos, but I do have a guy that can probably help me with that
03:05part
03:05of it.
03:05All those strings and everything inside there has to be redone.
03:08All these felts got to be redone.
03:09Make it sound good and make it look beautiful.
03:11Does this thing even make any noise anymore?
03:15How'd that work?
03:17Come on.
03:17Yank my doodle.
03:19Yank my doodle.
03:20Yank my doodle.
03:21Yank my doodle.
03:22It's a dandy.
03:23Yank your noodle.
03:25Yank your noodle.
03:26Give me satisfaction.
03:27I demand it.
03:29Come on.
03:29The piano sounds about as good as it looks, which ain't too pretty.
03:33But George and his son and grandson are having so much fun performing, I don't think they
03:38care how out of tune it is.
03:39Wow.
03:41Unbelievable.
03:42Oh, it's still funky.
03:45Everything you've done for music, you're the man.
03:47So I want to turn that around and do the best thing I possibly can for you.
03:51So if I can make this beautiful again, will you come back and do a little concert for
03:55us?
03:55You can do something with it.
03:57Yeah.
03:57I'll be back right here.
03:58Nice.
03:59Good.
03:59In the backyard.
04:00Nice.
04:01Let's go in the office.
04:02The guys are going to be pumped to hear about this.
04:10All right, so this is why I called you over here is for this piano.
04:15Wow.
04:16Seen better days.
04:17I wanted to get started on this piano immediately.
04:19So I brought in a couple of piano experts to help me make sense of this thing.
04:23It's actually George Clinton.
04:25P-Funk.
04:26Punkadel.
04:26Is this thing going to end up being a purple spaceship?
04:28Believe me, he's the coolest guy I've ever met.
04:32Do you mind if we open up and look inside?
04:33Yeah, sure.
04:39Amazingly enough, it's still somewhat musical.
04:41The biggest question I have is the soundboard.
04:43The soundboard is basically just a big speaker.
04:46It's impossible to tell the sound of the soundboard until it's even just roughly tuned.
04:52Is it wood?
04:52The soundboard wood?
04:53Yep.
04:54But if we can save the soundboard, that'll save quite a bit of money.
04:56If we can't save the soundboard, that opens up a whole other issue.
05:00And this is the harp.
05:02I knew that much about the piano.
05:03And this is cast iron, right?
05:04Oh, yeah.
05:05Non-malleable cast iron.
05:06I know that in the very beginning, the other guys were building their knees out of wood,
05:09and they'd stretch.
05:11It has to hold 20 tons of pressure.
05:1340,000 pounds.
05:14Wow.
05:15It's the reason why a piano stays in tune.
05:17Without all of this structure, it would stay in tune for about an hour and a half.
05:21That's amazing.
05:21It really is amazing.
05:23So, as far as the exterior of it, it looks like it was in the water.
05:27Wow.
05:28There's a lot of burn marks on here.
05:29I don't know what George was doing on the side of it.
05:31But I think I've got that part of it.
05:34But on the piano end of it, the keys, the inside, I don't have a clue what I'm doing.
05:39Right, right.
05:40Next thing to do would be for me to get this to my shop, address the issue with the soundboard,
05:44and take all the dampers out.
05:46We take all the tuning pins out.
05:47We lift off all the strings, unbolt the plate, and lift it right out of the piano.
05:52And then bring it back to you empty, and you can go wild with the finish.
05:55On the bush.
05:55The amount of work that goes into restoring an instrument like this is mind-boggling.
06:00Even with the extra help, we're really going to have our hands full with this one.
06:04Thanks, guys.
06:04Okay, brother.
06:05A lot.
06:05You know a lot about piano.
06:06Thanks, Rick.
06:07You taught me a lot.
06:08Oh, we're going to have fun.
06:09We need to go over the top.
06:10We're doing a piano for George Clinton.
06:12And we need a guitar to match his style.
06:14Bring it back in one piece, or I will kill him.
06:18This weighs about 400 pounds, and if we break this, we ruin my life.
06:37Hey, Ty.
06:38There's something outside you need to come check out.
06:40All right.
06:42What is this, like, secret session or something?
06:44I don't know.
06:44It's a work session.
06:46All right, Ty.
06:47George Clinton's coming to put on a show, and Rick doesn't know about throwing concerts.
06:51This sounds shady.
06:53It's all right.
06:54You know how George Clinton is.
06:55He's a big-name guy.
06:58You know what I mean?
06:58Yeah.
06:59So the idea is, you know, when he comes and gets his item, let's make a reveal big.
07:03We need to go over the top for George Clinton.
07:06Write these down, and we're going to figure out what we can get.
07:08My biggest idea, we need to be in pimp suits.
07:11Stage PA system.
07:12Can we get circus animals?
07:13Do we have a budget for that?
07:14This is kind of basic stuff.
07:16We're going to do all this, plus I want to play with George Clinton.
07:18Um, all right.
07:21I know Bradley's really excited about George Clinton coming here.
07:24I can just see it now.
07:25But realistically, I don't know how we're going to pull this off.
07:28All right, we need to go over the top.
07:30All right, dude.
07:30Sounds good.
07:31Don't let your dad know, either.
07:32All right.
07:33We'll keep it on the down low.
07:34All right.
07:34Come on.
07:34Let's go see how that piano's doing.
07:57Yeah, this is definitely it.
07:59Hey.
07:59You, Jay?
07:59How's it going, man?
08:01Bradley's all gung-ho about making this show badass, but it's not going to mean a thing if
08:05we don't have a working piano, so I hope Jay's got some good news for us.
08:09You guys came at a really good time.
08:10You can help me.
08:11I'm about to pull the harp out of the piano so we can get a look at the full soundboard
08:14for the first time.
08:16Gotcha.
08:16The harp weighs about 400 pounds, and if we break this, we ruin my life.
08:21And ours, too.
08:22Yeah, absolutely.
08:24All right.
08:24So let's not do that.
08:25Okay.
08:25We're going to lift this up about two feet off the piano, and then we're going to roll
08:29the piano right out into the back.
08:30Gotcha.
08:34Once we get this out, I can really determine whether or not we can save the soundboard.
08:40Easy now.
08:45Okay.
08:46Now we can look at the soundboard.
08:48I hope it's okay, because the new one is going to cost about five grand.
08:51If this soundboard is busted, we're in serious trouble.
08:54I don't want to come back to the shop an extra five grand in the hole.
08:57I can see a couple of cracks in the soundboard.
09:00There are cracks back in this area.
09:03There's a very small crack right there.
09:05Every time he says crack, I get an anxiety attack, because I just see more and more money
09:10getting poured into this thing.
09:12These cracks will open.
09:14Cracks.
09:15Cracks.
09:16Cracks.
09:17Cracks.
09:18Cracks.
09:18Crack.
09:19Um, cracked?
09:21Man, this thing has more crack than the mayor of Toronto.
09:24Seriously, dude?
09:25So, is this thing done or what?
09:27What I'm looking at now looks pretty, um, pretty promising.
09:32Say what?
09:33Believe it or not, these cracks are meaningless.
09:36The only problem with the crack would be if it buzzes.
09:39And all you need to do is get rid of the buzz, which is pretty doable.
09:42Why the hell didn't he say that to begin with?
09:45We're gonna clean up and shim this whole soundboard.
09:47It'll be like one solid soundboard again.
09:50And then the piano case goes to your dad.
09:53All right, Jay.
09:54Thank you again.
09:54I hope you enjoyed yourselves.
09:56And nice meeting both of you guys.
09:57Yeah.
09:58Thanks for the heart attack.
10:02I have to completely bore out each crack on the soundboard with a Dremel to stop the crack from spreading
10:08any further.
10:09And then I'll glue in soundboard shims to make the soundboard one solid piece of wood again.
10:14When that's done, I'll take the case back to Rick's shop and they can start the exterior woodwork.
10:19So far, so good.
10:26Hey, Ted.
10:27Hey, Rick.
10:27How's the harp coming along?
10:29Pretty good.
10:29Just prepping it.
10:30Well, the reason why I came in here was this piece is actually the centerpiece of what you see when
10:36you open up the lid.
10:37And I thought it'd be awesome if the art matched George Clinton's funky style.
10:40George's whole career, he was an innovator and he would throw stuff against the wall and beautiful wild colors.
10:47Everything about him was colorful, you know, and funky.
10:50What can we do to this to give it a little funk?
10:53If it's going to be a classic looking, just beautiful, ordinary piano on the outside, I can't imagine something better
10:58for George that you lift up that lid and little rays come out from like it's, you know, like it's
11:03heaven.
11:04And heck, we can do all the colors of the rainbow to make it funky.
11:06And maybe I'll bring some music for you to listen to it and you can groove on it.
11:09Get my funk on.
11:10Right?
11:11Each job, we got a feel.
11:12I want to be totally blown away.
11:14We're doing a private concert with George Clinton.
11:17Are you going to come check it out?
11:18Yeah, I'll be there.
11:19Come on, y'all.
11:20Get up.
11:20Wow.
11:21I mean, I'm totally floored.
11:24Say what?
11:25Get it.
11:39We got all the nicks out of it.
11:41Hey, guys.
11:42How you doing, Rick?
11:42How's the George Clinton piano doing?
11:44Just finished sanding the whole interior, which was really a tough job.
11:48The whole side was torn off.
11:50Right.
11:50We had to re-veneer the whole outer side.
11:52I mean, right now, it looks like a million bucks.
11:54The mahogany's going to look gorgeous when it's stained.
11:57These are the three legs that go on this.
11:59They're solid maple.
12:00Wow.
12:01Those are nice.
12:03I mean, the wood's heavy duty.
12:04It's got to hold the whole piano up.
12:05These are beautiful.
12:06They're solid.
12:07Yeah.
12:08So, we have one problem, and I want to discuss with you, and it's in the other room.
12:13I'll show you right now.
12:15Rick and Vic are master craftsmen, so when one of them has an issue with something, I
12:19know it's a serious problem.
12:21Here's the piece we're talking about.
12:23This is the lid to the piano.
12:26Yeah.
12:27As you can see how damaged this is.
12:29Oh, my God.
12:31That thing is wasted.
12:32And it looks like it's gotten worse.
12:34Well, after it's dried out, I would say it has.
12:37And here's the other half.
12:38They're just as bad.
12:40So, this is the whole side that got in the water, basically, right?
12:44This is wasted.
12:45Veneer is one thing, but when the base wood is split, that's another story.
12:49This is bad news.
12:50I know we restore stuff, but this here is beyond restoring.
12:54Okay.
12:54So, it's shot, is what you're saying?
12:55Yes, it's shot.
12:57If we can't fix it, we can't fix it.
12:59So, we got to remake this thing, but it's got to look just like it did.
13:03I'll get with Tyler and we'll order up the sheets right away.
13:05All right.
13:06Good luck.
13:06I'll come check you out.
13:07All right.
13:09Oh, boy.
13:14Where are we going?
13:15Uh, make a left right here.
13:17This George Clinton concert is going to be funking awesome.
13:20I mean, we have a badass PA system.
13:22We have funky clothes.
13:23All we need is a funking guitar and an audience to show up for it.
13:27Oh.
13:28So, that's why we're here.
13:29Pretty cool stuff.
13:31I know, right?
13:33I love this one here.
13:35Yeah.
13:35That's a Fender.
13:36It's got the three pickups.
13:38Oh.
13:38And that's better.
13:39You know, it gives a better sound, you know.
13:40Hey, what's up, guys?
13:41How you doing?
13:42I'm pretty good.
13:43What are you guys doing here?
13:44We're actually doing a piano for George Clinton.
13:47We're trying to put together, like, a private concert form.
13:50And we need a guitar to match his style.
13:52We're thinking about...
13:52Banjo.
13:53I don't know how to play it yet.
13:55We actually want that Stratocaster on the right.
13:57The neat thing about a Stratocaster was, it was like the first electric guitar to sound
14:01like an electric guitar.
14:03This is Jimi Hendrix, you know, it's just like making it scream.
14:05So, this is 69.
14:07For George Clinton, it might be cool.
14:09Every guitarist knows that the pre-1966 benders are the most desirable.
14:13That was the year CBS bought Fender.
14:15And since then, the quality went down to the mid-'80s.
14:18This thing's badass, though.
14:19Yeah, right?
14:20Yeah, it's got a nice look to it.
14:22Yeah.
14:22Oh, you want to see something really cool?
14:23Hold on.
14:24All right.
14:25Here's a cool one.
14:261962.
14:31Strat, owned by Vic Flick.
14:33He was like a legendary studio guy in London.
14:35This guy played with the Beatles, he played with the Stones, he played with Zeppelin, he played
14:39with Sex Pistols.
14:40He played with everybody.
14:41That's badass.
14:43And no, you can't touch it.
14:46I believe it.
14:47That's perfect.
14:48How much is it?
14:49I take 80 grand for it.
14:51No way.
14:52He's got the checkbook.
14:54Really, though?
14:55This first strat is perfect.
14:57What can I do to borrow it, loan it?
14:59To borrow it?
15:00Okay, I'll let you borrow it, bring it back in one piece, or I will kill him.
15:06Well, I'm still alive, aren't I?
15:07You're getting an easy way out.
15:08All right.
15:08Are you going to come check it out?
15:10There's going to be booze, right?
15:11Yeah, we'll work some.
15:12Okay, yeah, I'll be there.
15:12I'll be there, guys.
15:13Same thing right there.
15:14Awesome, Rich.
15:14Thanks.
15:15See you guys.
15:15That's all you, really.
15:16We're going to be funkin' with George.
15:20We've got to put the finishing touches on this piano.
15:24Rick and Vic are finishing up the wood, Ted's finishing up the paint, and Jay's putting
15:29the finishing touches on the inside.
15:31George is getting here soon, and I hope it lives up to his reputation.
15:35Hey, Rick.
15:35Hey, hey.
15:36Yeah, we here.
15:37We here.
15:39It's Rick.
15:39Hey, good to see you.
15:40Good to see you.
15:41Oh, it was a hard job.
15:43Oh, it was tough.
15:45First of all, I want to really see if you guys remember how this thing looked.
15:49That thing was tore up.
15:50It was wrecked.
15:52Yeah.
15:52It was all rough on the top, and it was all peelin'.
15:55The inside was terrible.
15:56It didn't even have legs, remember?
15:58Ready to see it?
15:59Yeah.
16:00Here we go.
16:01Ready?
16:01One.
16:03Two.
16:04Three.
16:11You ready to see it?
16:12Here we go.
16:13One.
16:15Two.
16:16Three.
16:18Oh, my God.
16:21Oh, Jay.
16:23I believe it is so sweet.
16:26It's the same one.
16:28Yeah, it's the same one.
16:29I swear.
16:30The same one.
16:31Oh, Jay.
16:33Wow, Rick.
16:34That's deep.
16:34That's crazy.
16:35I won't lie.
16:36The exterior was a functon of work.
16:39The wood alone, we probably got 100 hours doing the wood.
16:42The top was the worst.
16:43Yeah.
16:44Remember it was lifting and peeling?
16:45The top was unsalvageable, so we had to remake the whole thing.
16:48Then we stained it out the original stain.
16:51We also replaced all the keys and added that real nice red felt under there.
16:55Yeah, that's on red carpet.
16:56We're talking about red carpet.
16:56He just got it dripped up and draped out.
17:02What'd the inside look like?
17:04Uh-huh.
17:06So for the inside, I got some help from my friend Jay that works at Family Music Center.
17:10All the wood and felt and wires.
17:13There's just a ton of stuff inside there that make this thing operate.
17:16Plus the soundboard.
17:17It had a few little cracks that evidently were fixable instead of replacing the whole thing.
17:22And that's what I was really worried about.
17:24As far as the inside, we tried to funk it up a little bit.
17:27Quite honestly, I'm a little nervous to show you the inside.
17:31All right, so you ready?
17:32Yeah.
17:33Here we go.
17:34Whoa, buddy!
17:36That's what I was talking about.
17:37That's funcadelic.
17:38That is so delic.
17:42What do you think?
17:44Holy shit.
17:46Oh, man.
17:47All right.
17:49What's wrong with you, man?
17:52It goes day-glo.
17:53It's like fluorescent colors.
17:55Oh, my God.
17:55It used to be gold.
17:57Ted, my artist, helped me figure out which colors we would put where.
18:01Like a day-glo pink.
18:02It's got day-glo blue.
18:04Just like your dredge rib.
18:05Oh, okay.
18:05Just like those colors.
18:07Look, he got the sparkles and the white, though.
18:09It's got pearl.
18:10It's got pearl in the white.
18:12Woo!
18:12It look like you.
18:13Look, look, look.
18:14There's your smile right here.
18:15And there go your hair right there.
18:16Your face, boy.
18:17Big-ass smile.
18:18Hey.
18:19Want to try it out?
18:24Oh, .
18:26Rick, I got to give it to you.
18:28You did your job.
18:29You did your job.
18:31Magnificent.
18:31I've been around a lot of pianos.
18:34Nothing like this.
18:35I could not ask for more.
18:37It is beautiful.
18:40You said you might be able to play a little bit on it?
18:42Hold on, Rick.
18:43Hold on.
18:43Slow your roll.
18:44He's still trying to take it in right now.
18:46Why don't you go finish the paperwork?
18:48Me and George and the boys got something planned for you.
18:50What do you mean?
18:51It's okay.
18:52I've said too much.
18:53Just hold that thought, please.
18:59We ought to make this really special for Rick.
19:01So, Tyler and I got these suits.
19:02We invited all our friends to the Boneyard for just this insane funk fest.
19:08What's happening, bro?
19:12Boy, you looking like a pimp.
19:15Both of y'all looking pimpish.
19:18Thank you guys for all coming out.
19:19Where's your dad at, Tyler?
19:21I don't know.
19:21You need to get him out here.
19:22It's for him though, right?
19:23Where's he at?
19:24All right, everybody.
19:25Maybe he'll hear us if we all do it.
19:26Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick.
19:43Come on, y'all.
19:45Get it up.
19:46Wow.
19:46You know, I knew he was going to put on a show, but I never expected anything like this.
19:51I mean, I'm totally floored.
19:52You got a real type of thing going down, kick down.
19:58There's a whole lot of rhythm going down.
20:00Here we go, sir.
20:04Say what?
20:05Get it.
20:06What'd you say?
20:09Let me hear you say it.
20:14Hey, Rick.
20:15Hey, Rick, you see what he's doing?
20:20Hey.
20:26Woo!
20:27Make some millions out there.
20:29The piano sounds incredible.
20:31I'm so honored that George let me bring back the funk.
20:34Come on, boy.
20:35Say hi.
20:36We want the funk.
20:37Everybody sing.
20:39Gotta have that funk.
20:40Sing louder.
20:41We need the funk.
20:42Come on, sing, y'all.
20:43Gotta have that funk.
20:44Everybody sing the funk.
20:46We want the funk.
20:47Come on, sing, y'all.
20:48Gotta have that funk.
20:51I'm so glad I brought the kid out of here.
20:53It sounded gorgeous.
20:55I mean, Rick did such a good job on it.
20:57So, um, we'll see what else I can find.
21:00Thank you!
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