I got the piano

I listed "second hand piano" on my wanted list when I started this blog and I'm pleased to say that I've got one and it didn't cost me a bean.

The piano is 68 keys as opposed to the 88 keys of a full piano. I got someone round to tune it up. The piano tuner was a great guy, a jazz enthusiast. He got me to look at videos of the great jazz pianist Art Tatum on You Tube while he was tuning away and what a revelation. The man had an amazing talent. I recommend you have a look.

The piano was put together anytime between 1920-1940. It can be difficult to date a piano, particularly one like mine which is at the bottom end of the quality spectrum, because the harp that's inside it could have been hanging around for a while before being put into the piano casing. The instrument itself is on it's last legs. The pegs that the strings are on and that you turn to tune it, have become loose with age and there's nothing that can be done to cheaply rectify that problem. It means that it won't hold its tune for long and will eventually become impossible to tune or play. The average "life" of a piano is 50 years, so its done well to get this far.

The good news though is that the little lady is worth a little money. Most of the time when you can't tune a piano, unless its a famous make, it becomes firewood. However in this case the piano tuner said that he'd never seen a piano like this and although its a piece of tat sound wise, he reckoned someone would like it either as a theatre prop or as a prop for a piano dealership. They may even go as far as reconditioning it, an expensive job that only an enthusiast would take on board.

In the meantime I'm teaching myself to play and trying to decide what I want next.