Zelda and Yuri (who have both been sorely neglected over the past few months) have a new roommate. Or at least as much of it, i.e. the keyframe, keys and action, that can fit in the cottage presently. She's an 1883 Schubert upright that's been in storage for the past 20-30 years. I think for my consistent naming purposes she'll get called Xena, but perhaps more appropriate might be Phoenix as she's literally needing resurrection.
It's a sweet story, however. And her presence will also serve to get me refocused on the piano technician part of my journey in addition to the tuning.
A young man called me about three weeks ago to see if I would be willing to rebuild his wife's great grandmother's piano -- actually the piano the wife as a little girl first learned to play on. After great grandma passed on the piano was put in storage where mice feasted on its innards and excess humidity took its toll ... and where Xena was forgotten. It's his dream to give his wife the piano tied up with a big red bow on Christmas morning this year.
After looking it over I realized that I could rebuild the action within that period of time and get it playing again. Though there's no room left in the cottage to work on the cabinet. So he and a buddy (with some consulting help from me) are going to take on that work in a separate space.
The work began this past week. Before separating the action from the harp and strings the first of what will be -- no doubt -- several pitch raises took place. The piano was anywhere from 50 cents to a full pitch flat throughout; but, amazingly, with some very careful maneuvering to break off the encrusted rust on the tuning pins, it came up to pitch without a single broken string. My guess is that the instrument was probably restrung perhaps as recently as 40 years ago. Much of the rest of the action and harp show a lot of corrosion; but the strings show very little in comparison. And they still sing --- not the brittle sound that poor Zelda's 100 year old strings have.
And they are about the only thing that won't require huge amounts of work between now & Christmas: action, hammers, dampers, backchecks, damaged keys OMG!!! and other stuff that I haven't even figured out yet.
So Thursday we made the separation. The solid mahogany cabinet went to the secret refinishing shop. And the action is here at the cottage with Zelda and Yuri. Guess, they'll be neglected a while longer; but this job will allow me to have the resources to address their issues later -- Zelda's cracked pinblock and need for new strings and Yuri's restringing. I think I'll have enough to keep me busy during the autumn and winter.
Now I just have to figure out how to balance my life better: the day job that pays the bills, producing the Music in Paradise shows http://www.musicinparadise.com/ plus doing the PR and fundraising, tuning as many pianos as I can, volunteering at MCC and Keys Chorale and, occasionally, getting in a photoshoot.
Stay tuned for the next tuning. Xena rules the roost for now.
