The Hawaiian Piano by GrandmaT
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Description
Several people have asked me about the reference to a piano in Hawaii that my husband and I worked on, so I decided to post some photos and the story.
When my husband (Ray) and I lived in New Hampshire, he backed into doing repair and touch up on furniture. A long time friend of ours, who has been a piano technician since his late teens, moved to Massachusetts and we segued into refinishing pianos for him. After he moved to Hawaii, we refinished pianos for different technicians in the area until we moved back to Kentucky, our home state.
In 2006, Kirk called and asked if we would come to Hawaii to help him work on a piano he was restoring. He would feed us and house us and give us a tour of the Island. We went and stayed for a month, working in his “basement” all week and sight-seeing on Sunday afternoons. I was the official photographer, assistant refinisher, gofer and Primo decal applier (on the fall board and sound board). It was nerve racking and rewarding all in one. We had a great time working, exploring the Island and spending quality time with two very dear friends.
I hope the photos give you some idea of what was happening. Ray is the guy with the longish gray hair (it’s shorter now). Kirk is the big guy. I’m the little one behind the camera. I did get Ray to take a picture of me actually applying the sound board decal to prove I did something. The bottom photo was taken in Honolulu in front of the statue of Duke Kahanamoku. He is called the Father of Modern Surfing. Hope you enjoy the collage.
Comments (30)
eekdog Online Now!
Great story Teri , much enjoyed as much as the collage of captures.
g1tip Online Now!
Great story and great photos ! ! !
ontar1
That is cool, great captures!
goldie Online Now!
What a wonderful adventure...thanks for sharing your photo log. The collaboration was a beautiful success :)
LivingPixels
A beautifully worked project with such excellent shots Terri well done my friend
miwi
Agree with eekdog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MagikUnicorn
romangirl
Great pictures and wonderful story! Wish I were there!
Richardphotos
outstanding collage and something to be proud of. I would like to go to Kentucky again for more sight seeing and to visit a friends grave at a military cemetery there not far from E Town
RodS
Well, firstly...... My jaw really hurts now, since it hit the top of my table when I saw the finish job on that piano! That is a work of art in and of itself! I wish I could get a finish a tenth that good! Seeing you and Ray working on that piano is a treat - true artists at work.
I'm also fascinated with that massive wood structure your friend apparently uses to hoist pianos. Good to see you working with those beautiful decals, Teri! Those are magnificent.
This really needs to be seen at full size.
mtdana
Great project and pictures!!!
starship64
Great sequence. It sounds like you had a fun time, too.
Wolfenshire Online Now!
I would have liked to hear it play after.
bucyjoe
This finish looks great! someone really loved that piano! My mom just painted hers flat black!
Windigo
Wonderful!! The decals are the hard tricky bit, so thank goodness you were there to get it just right. :)
Leije
Nice collage and cool story of you and your friends !
anahata.c
Ok, I'm not here now (I'm really not, lol), but I saw this yesterday, and since I'm one of the people who reacted to your Hawaii piano story, I had to comment as soon as I could! I love this, Teri: It's great to see Ray, it's great to see you, and Kirk, and the piano you 2 refurbished. You did a great job---I've never seen this 'in progress': I've seen people rebuild the strings and keybed (I recognized the felt and all that!), but not the actual furniture, finish, etc. I loved seeing this. Plus I love how you and Ray look: Ray looks like a mix of a gentle artist and a professor, and you look very earthy and have a great smile (like the one on your welcome page). And it's great to see you both at work. I had no idea you could actually buy those decals---I looked them up, after seeing this, and you can buy them! (I wanna stick one on my digital keyboard controller! ((those 88 key-keybeds you hook into a computer)) ). And it's great to see all the mechanisms, and the slow application of paint, finish etc; and you preparing the decal. (Imagine having our own decals: I wanna be approved by European kings...) A great shot of you two at the end---there's a look about you two, like you have a lot of love in you, and you definitely look like you should live on the land (which is where you live, I assume). I live in a high rise, so believe me I know the difference. As for the hoist that Rod mentioned: I'm not surprised: You guys know that those grands weigh more than the Appalachian mountains (though that hoist may be for other purposes, I don't know). Great to see you and Ray, and to see what devotion you gave to these amazing instruments. Thanks so much for uploading this. I love it!
(you DON'T have to d/load this, but this is me, about 3 and a half minutes worth, on an old Steinway Concert D, in recital in 1980 or so. A Chopin Etude, and an excerpt from a Chopin Polonaise. It's old, Teri, it sounds tinny and kind of irritable, but it's me back when I could play, and it's one of those lonnnnnnng steinways. I did audio-surgery on these, some years back, but it's kinda hopeless; but if you wanna hear my 'other life', here's a snippet. ((It's only 9 MB.)) If not, don't worry. Just thought I'd complete my end of the dialogue. It's here if you want it: https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/h1kycmAmPS. Hope you're all enjoying your summer!)
donnena
Totally wonderful!!!! THANKS for sharing this part of your life with us!!
soffy
wonderful story and so nice collage of photos :)*****
rto3d
awesome job with the piano .... WOW.
great shots with the progress !
KarmaSong
Thank you for sharing this part of your life with us: I enjoyed reading your narrative and the collage is fantastic, not to mention the story of this wonderful piano!
lizard01
That looks amazing
A_Sunbeam
A great story and set of pictures!
Navi
This must have been a great trip :) , thanks for the shots :)
Crudelitas
Fantastic Story and Photos. A wonderful old Steinway Piano. The result is quite impressive! Thank you for sharing, Teri!
STEVIEUKWONDER
Absolute magic Teri! Your Husband is obviously very skilled, as are you, for fastening that decal! Not to mention the post of Coffee! lol So glad you had such a time together!
Faemike55
Fabulous collection of photos that add oomph to the story! Sounds like you had a great time both the work and the stay
adorety
What an awesome opportunity and the final finish looks fantastic. Love how the wood grain shows. I rarely see pianos that are not black and polished.
Radar_rad-dude
Looks like it was quite the intensive restoration project with a magnificent result! Love the photo montage! Most delightful viewing!
misumu
What a beautiful restoration. Thanks for sharing the story.