My Piano

I started lessons when I was 12. That is the year my mother managed to get a piano. My brothers all started lessons when they were 8. There is a big difference. While I can "play a little", my brothers have mastered multiple instruments and play beautifully.

So while my husband thought someday, I was thinking now. I want my children to have my brothers' musical skill, not mine. I saved all the birthday money I was generously given by family and scoured KSL classifieds.

Here is what I found for $75, a 1920's piano in need of some love:


I took my accomplished musician brother with me. He played the piano, said the action was better than my mom's, all the keys played and piano keys weren't chipped. However, you can see from the picture that it had better days. Most of the pieces that remove for tuning had been damaged and didn't fit properly. The knee board was cracked at the bottom and no longer sit properly and besides the dings and gouges, someone had CUT the piano legs, removed them and then glued them back in without wiping out the excess glue (I'm still at a loss as to why).

Did this faze me? Are you kidding! I have a gifted carpenter as a husband. While he didn't own a lathe for turning new legs (we bought them turned), he cut new wedges and fashioned all the pieces back to their original state. He then spent a week with wood putty and myself as the sander to take care of dings and gouges. With the exterior components all fashioned properly, I then set about painting.

It was far too damaged and repaired to stain it or retain the wood color. So I enlisted my mother and we painted and antiqued. I scrubbed hardware for 4 hours. Now I have the results.

My husband's next project is to fashion me an old fashioned piano stool. I found the hardware to make it adjusting for $25. This January my kids start lessons and no it isn't optional.