I love a piano

From the second PostSecret book. Postsecret is "extraordinary secrets of ordinary people" — if you don't know the site, click here. It's one of the best and most popular blogs on the Web.

It's a Baby Baby Grand Piano

From the country which became a byword for miniaturisation now comes a very very small piano, but it's still a grand and it still works.

Japanese toymaker Sega has unveiled what it is calling the world smallest fully-functioning grand piano.

Measuring just 25 centimetres in width and 18 centimetres in height, it poses a bit of a technical difficulty to pianists, especially those with larger fingers, as each key is only 4 millimetres wide.

But the piano has a full-range of 88 keys and makers are saying they've hit the high notes with this invention.

The inpiration behind the tiny piano was quite simple.

"Few households in Japan can afford a huge grand piano so we had to cut it down to this size for people who live in a small space," Yoshiyuki Endo, one of the developers of the mini piano said.

While serious musicians might turn up their noses at this undersized creation, which is a six time reduction of the original grand piano, Sega says big isn't always better.

The piano is set to go on sale in Japan on April 1, for some $400, and though it's just a toy, it's seems to be as entertaining and at times challenging as its full size cousin.

Graphite and balsa

This article describes new violins and guitars made from graphite, balsa, and other new materials. The same ideas could apply to piano soundboards. It includes an interactive graphic showing how violins behave and how researchers are analyzing them.

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes

There is a new movie where the hero is a piano tuner.

A tuner in literature

The whole way home he says “maybe” “maybe” “maybe” to himself, like a piano tuner at work, depressing the same key over and over again until it seems to vary slightly with each iteration, until the note starts to sounds subtly different, either because the string inside changes slightly or perhaps the world around it changes slightly at the moment the hammer strikes. Each time different connotations of the word emerge like secret frequencies revealed from a deep, rich vibrato. He takes a shower, smokes a cigarette, puts a pot of water on for farfalle, and the whole time he is making a song out of the one note.
—Charles Yu, “32.05864991%”

I hope this was someone's very first stringing job. 

Book about Ben's mom

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle reviews a new book about Jessica Mitford, the famous writer whose son Ben Treuhaft (above, right) we know from his Send a Piana to Havana.

In a back hall at the Radisson, a chart to guide business ethics. 

Jerry tunes pianos at Pianodisc

click on image to see other photos

Jerry says, "I've tuned some bad pianos before, but these are the worst."

Bob Proul tuned this piano before me. On the service record, note the gap between the last two tunings: 1972 to 1991. On the last tuning, he said that it had been so long that he needed to "soak the keys." He took the keys home and soaked them in who knows what. 

This label was inside a customer's piano. The idea of a piano dealer/recording studio evokes an era long past. 

A really ancient keyboard chart. 

Singer's piano car up for auction

Read article

HoustonChronicle.com - Police nab piano-playing burglar

"Sept. 28, 2006, 1:11PM

Police nab piano-playing burglar
Reuters News Service

AMSTERDAM, Netherands - A burglar who broke into a house in the Dutch town of Tiel on Wednesday night could not resist playing the piano he found there after ransacking the living room, police said Thursday.

Unfortunately for the 20-year-old thief, his music woke the owner of the house, who called the police.

'The owner didn't register whether the playing was any good or not. He was more worried about the state of his house,' a police spokesman said."

Iran News - Iranian artist: No support for piano production

LONDON, October 12 (IranMania) - Iranian music teacher Hamidreza Rezaii complained over the lack of official support for the mass production of his invention, a quarter-note piano, MNA reported.
[read full article]

Building a Profitable Piano Tuning and Repair Business

A guy selling a course in how to succeed as a piano technician.

icWales - Mystery man has no name, age or nationality

AN alleged burglar, dubbed "the new piano man", has baffled police who have been unable to work out the man's name, age, nationality, or even his language...

read entire article

These are imitation ivory heads from www.webpiano.com. I got these on eBay but you can order them directly from their website. They sell them in different lengths and colors. These six cost me $4.50 (including shipping) and they are good enough for average repairs. 

The best thing ever for cleaning key tops (watch out for painted sharps, though--- it will take the paint off). 

PianoDisc warehouse burns

Read the news article about the disaster here.

Bob and Linda, personal trainers from Bodyconcepts, came to our chapter meeting to help us handle the problems resulting from years of tuning. Here Linda models the posture of someone tuning an upright. They showed us some useful stretching exercises. 

Email from Yvonne Ashmore

Hello Mark,

Just saw the "elastic band pedal spring repair" so thought you might be interested in this story:

I was called out to tune a Steinway O which I have not seen since 1973. He told me one of the keys didn't work. When I pulled the action, then the wippen, I found rubber bands wrapped around the repetition lever and the body of the wippen and a rubber band which had been cut and tied between the repetition post and the jack. I thought to myself, "this looks vaguely familiar". Sure enough, when I checked my customer card from 33 years ago I had made this note: "repetition spring broken, did not have replacement, used rubber bands to get customer through that night's party, told them to call me back later to replace spring." Those rubber bands had held up for three decades! This time the wippen got a new repetition spring!!

Yvonne

Here's a great classic comic (Powerhouse Pepper) that features a piano gag.

Ever feel like you just don't fit in? 

Well.. I think I see your problem...