The Old Piano Roll Blues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4XaD_bYKps

Had to say good-bye to the old piano today.  It is on a truck headed to my daughter in Nebraska by way of Colorado, California, Oregon and Utah.  It is a beautiful old upright grand made in 1896 by Shoninger.  The movers kept commenting about what good shape it is in.  I did not tell them what it was like when I found it.
We were living in northern Indiana at the time.  I overheard a man at the shopping mall talking about it to a friend.  So I rudely interrupted them and inquired about the piano. Turns out this guy was a master tuner.  I had been looking for an old piano for a couple of years, but most old ones were in really bad shape.  I did not like the tone of the newer ones.  You just cannot beat the wood used in the well made older uprights.  Anyway, I drove to a little town about twenty-five miles away and bought it for $325 and considered it a birthday present to myself.  I think Dearly Beloved thought I had gone nuts.  It looked awful.  It had layers and layers  of psychedelic paint on it.  Someone had applied stripper and just left it.  However, the internal workings were in tact.  In fact, from a playing standpoint, it was in good condition.  DB and I spent months with parts of the piano strung all over our small dining room in base housing and with a drop light hanging from the chandelier, removing paint only to find the most gorgeous carving and scroll work under all that mess.  I remember sitting at the kitchen sink working with toothpicks and a toothbrush removing paint.  It was like an archeological dig! Then came the staining and coat after coat of varnish.  Did you know those old pianos had fifteen coats of varnish?    I have loved that piano long and well but could never master playing with two hands.  So now it is off to Nebraska.  My daughter and son-in-law play and my granddaughter is learning.  So the old gal will have an appreciative home.  Hope to post photos later.