Stringing along

In preparation for the tuner's visit yesterday, I cleared off the junk that had accumulated on top of my piano over the course of a year. Then I played a little bit and noticed something weird.

For weeks, many of the keys had been hitting more than one string. But now most of them were working as they should. Some quick chromatic scales revealed that only three keys were showing signs of trouble, and not as markedly as before.

At first I thought I'd caused the improvement by removing all that junk. But that didn't make sense. Pianos are sturdy things. Putting stuff on top of them doesn't hurt them any.

Maybe it just wanted attention.

The piano tuner was as baffled by this turn of events as I was, but no matter. In spite of his dire predictions that I might need to buy a whole new piano, he was able to fix it for just $15 above the cost of the regular tune. And it doesn't just sound better now. It feels better to play. Practicing last night was a joy.

So, except for the weird suspicion that an inanimate object has been messing with my mind, everything is good now.

* * *

A little plug for the guy who made my piano (and me) very happy: Neal Flint has been tuning pianos in Tucson for over 30 years. He does good work and he's a heckuva nice guy. Of interest to some of my readers, he told me that he has a couple of clients with MCS. If you live in Tucson, have chemical sensitivities, and need a piano tuner, call Neal. He'll go fragrance-free if you need him to and he won't act like it's a big deal. www.flinttuningandpiping.com

Jerry-rigged

Six years ago, my piano's sustain pedal stopped working. Whatever connected it to the rest of the piano snapped. I called my piano tuner, someone who'd been recommended to me because he was so cheap, and he went to work.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the right materials on him, and he didn't realize this until it was too late to run out and buy what he needed. So he obtained some strong wire-hanger wire and used it to jerry-rig a connection.

It wasn't a great solution. The wire squeaked every time I used the pedal. But it worked. I figured I'd ask for a real fix the next time I got the piano tuned.

Except, I didn't get the piano tuned. After Ron and I recorded our first album, I went back to practicing exclusively on my keyboard.

Last week I started practicing on a real piano again (more about that later). The second day or so in, the sustain pedal began to die. Nothing snapped this time. It just didn't give much of a sustain.

The number for the original piano tuner was no longer in service. I got a recommendation for another guy, this time not for being cheap, but for being good.

New tuner didn't think much of the first guy's work. He fixed it for really real.

Because I love metaphors, I'm going to take this event as a gentle reminder that fast and cheap solutions can cost you later. On top of the regular tuning fee, I paid around $30 for the pedal repair.

On another note, I wonder if I can work the word "jerry-rigged" into my next song ...