It's here! We've got a sweet 1906 Heintzman 6 foot grand piano as our 2nd term refurb project. 'We' is Joan and I - who will be my bench partner for this term - pictured here with 'Betty', so named after the fussy little old lady music teacher who owns her. Yes, it's a little old lady piano. Joan is a real hard worker and lots of fun to hang around with so I have high hopes for a successful project.This little beauty is actually in really good shape, with a beautifully refinished cabinet and not a single structural flaw to speak of at 102 years of age. She sounds little strident and honky at the moment but we'll fix that with some new strings and hammers. I was especially taken with one item; it was customary for some makers to emboss some of their patents right on the plate of their pianos and in a little trick of coincidence this one happens to be my birthday! Of course there will be lots of updates throughout the term in this space and in my Facebook photos.
If you're not familiar with Heintzman they were the preeminent Canadian piano manufacturer, formed in 1886 and making pianos in Canada into the 80's I believe. There's kind of an interesting sequence of events in their ownership history, too lengthy to cover here, but at one point they were owned by Sklar-Peppler the furniture maker, and eventually went out of business, only to be resurrected by - wait for it - Chinese owners (and here) who have built a snazzy new factory and claim to be building pianos based on the original templates.
So we now have no less than 7 grands in our little shop but the jewel is a 9 foot Steinway concert grand from the 50's. This baby has been on its side in a box at the Royal Conservatory of Music for 10 years if you can believe it, and so it's been sent to us to see if we (that is, our profs) think it worthy of a full on restoration. One test that we do on the overall character of a piano is to pound on the soundboard (the soul of the piano) with the side of a fist with the dampers up and listen for the sound. This thing boomed like a crack of thunder and resonated for about 20 seconds. Oh yeah, lots of potential. I think I peed a little. We are all now quite taken with the instrument. I was playing it today and it is just creamy.
In a bit of other news, a few promising developments:
- I have a job interview next week! I had contacted Merriam Music in Oakville in December and they asked me to come in a few weeks later. Now, I don't really want a job per se but I'm not averse to taking something like this, even for shitty money, just to stay busy and keep my skills sharp while I build my own practice. I'd rather do that than go back to IT project work and get sucked back into that world, even though it would be easier financially. It was a bit scary to hear Merriam tell me 'we're always looking for technicians'. Hmm, they either chew them up and spit them out, or pay them shit, or both. But what the hell, I'm just getting started and Merriam is the kind of high end shop I'd like to align myself with.
- Don Stephenson has asked me and three of the other lads from class to go with him to the Stratford Festival to work on some of the pianos there for a day. It's quite flattering to be included in this group, and it's also nice because we'll get paid although the funds will be directed toward paying for our trip to NYC in April. It will just be real nice to feel as though I'm working instead of going to school.
2008 is off to a fine start indeed.
