New Piano

This is only tangentially about the house, but I thought I'd show you our new piano. Noel went and picked it up in Reno on Thursday, arriving back home in the middle of the night. And last night we moved it, with the help of our neighbor Richard, into the house.

(Of course we did this well after dark. There were deck posts to install while we had light.)

The first deal was that the piano was in the back of the truck, which is high off the ground and lacks one of those awesome lifts on the back. Noel got this half of an auto ramp and we backed the truck up to the side porch. The railing on that porch is still in what we call "transitional" stages, so we just popped off the top rail and we had a place to bring the piano in.

Since I am not anywhere near capable of lifting anything like this piano (which weighs about 1000 lbs), my role was monitoring the wheels of the dolly we set it on to make sure they were lined up right on the ramp. Dropping a wheel over the edge would mean dropping the piano. Added incentive for me was that would also drop the piano on my camellia. Not that I want to destroy a very expensive piano, but I am also quite fond of that tree.

It was a little tricky getting it through the side door into the dining room; the door was just barely wide enough. Fortunately that door is one of the easy-off types we have where you can lift them off their hinges without pulling a pin or unscrewing anything, so we took off the door for the proceedings. Still a tight fit.

Then it was down the hall and into the front parlour. This was fairly easy because the piano has wheels and Noel thoughtfully oiled them before loading it up in Reno in the first place.

The piano had been partially disassembled for shipping, so once it was in place Noel got to work reassembling it.

This is the first sign that there is something very different about this piano. Since we already own two pianos (Noel's grand and my miniature upright), a third could only come in this house on the condition that it offered something special to the mix.

This piano is a uniform keyboard piano designed by a guy named Paul von Jankó. Noel has a bunch of information on his uniform keyboard web page. We call this a Jankó piano.

The whole thing went together quickly. There are a few broken or missing pieces that it might be nice to repair or replace, eventually. And the piano got a little damage in moving that it would be nice to repair.

And, of course, the front parlour is a total mess now. With a giant upright piano in the middle of it.

And then Noel stayed up half the night playing scales and learning the feel of the keyboard. It's one thing to understand the theory of how the keyboard works, but learning to play it requires practise.

posted by ayse on 09/01/12