Tickle the Ivories

When I purchased Giddings Lane, included in the price was a piano in my shed. Now, before you get all excited dream of hearing me tickle the ivories, please note these two things. 1, you do NOT want to hear me play the piano. My one year of lessons didn't really "take." 2, this piano was in BAD shape. It had been home to several cats (they left poo evidence,) significant water damage (the metal back is majorly rusted,) and is completely beyond restoring. (I did try several times to find a new home for the beast, but no one took me up on my offer.) sThat means that this piano is headed to the dump. Now, if you recall, I mentioned that the piano was in the shed in the backyard, not anywhere near a stable place to load a trailer with a 600+ pound piano. Notice the distance from the shed, whose door faces the backyard and the front of the carport.


So, when my sweet cousin Emily was down to see my niece Vaeh, she was cajoled/suckered into helping move the piano. You know how it goes, come play with the cute baby and do some massive physical labor. No big deal! Ha! We'll see if I can every convince her to come back...

Using an intricate system of walking 2 by 12's, dollies and tow straps, Marc, Sara and poor Emily rolled the piano to its new home in my carport. (didn't I mention it was a little crowded in there??)


After strapping the piano to the porch braces, there it sat for almost a month. Hey, others have pretty flowers and cute gnomes in their yard. Me? I have a giant poo-infested piano. (I know you're super jealous.)


Last weekend, in an effort to clean up my carport, I started to dismantle the giant monstronsity. In case you are curious, Bradford pianos are held together with 1,000 plus flathead screws and glue. All of the wood pieces instead of being screwed or nailed are just glued together. I did salvage the wood from the pieces I pulled off. (I was told the wood was walnut, which makes even a diehard paint fan like me cringe when I see the current finish. The black finished piano was covered in nasty orange paint and then antiqued.)

With careful loosening and re-tightening of the tow straps, I unscrewed and removed the key covers and the face of the piano. To be completely honest, a piano is actually pretty cool underneath all of the wood.


After a couple of hours of un-engineering a piano, I now have this beauty sitting out front. Most of the keys are sitting out for the trashman, along with a couple of other unsalvageable parts. Current plans are to recycle the metal wall along the back somewhere, somehow. Otherwise, if anyone has any suggestions or wants a piece of my piano, leave me a comment or better yet, come pick up a part!