I tuned a Baldwin R today. The lid was closed and it took about 5 minutes to clean all the stuff from on top of the lid. I removed the fall board and found on top of the keys:

A pair of drumsticks
8 pairs of chop sticks
A penny
2 gummy bear chews, semi petrified
A metal washer 1 1/2" diameter
A full size hair brush
4 pencils
3 pens


All dropped in there since the last tuning (Nov 2006)

Hee Hee

WHAT?

HAIRBRUSH?

I really wish there was a photo to go with this.

Lol. I'd rather find drumsticks and a hair brush. I get the weird stuff like used condoms, petrified candy, and cigar stubs.

I had one case where I actually made money on a cell phone. The 16 year old daughter dropped her cell behind the fallboard of a grand, and was having DT's each time it rang. I went out the next morning and they also wanted a tuning since I was there.

I guess some people don't consider that a piano technician might discover their, ah, private business.

curry-

Do you tune a lot of hotel lobby pianos in Vegas or something? Oh wait, you work in Jersey. Uhm....big wedding venues then? University practice rooms? I mean, I found that stuff as a chamber maid, but how is all that getting into pianos??

I'll never forget the only Long Island wedding I went to. The photographer had the 'voluptuous' bride climb onto this grand for photos. WHAT? I mean, how could this seem like a good idea? But they did it like it was totally natural, just another standard on their shot list. Here's an example of this tacky trend. Oh well, at least it's a Yamaha

The first time I opened up the bottom of my upright I found skeletal remains

I got a tuning out of a lost Blackberry, same as Dan, lol. And found a pair of mouse skeletons atop a nest of bridle tape material.

Bob, how did the piano even play?

Melted candy canes, dropped inside the top of an upright (probably by kids at Christmas), melted across about an octave of keys.

Set of diamond wedding rings.
Microphone.
Diaper, (used)
I got a picture of a half completed puzzle laid across the plate of a new SS L, babinga. Safe puzzle storage at 45K.

Yikes.

Were the drumsticks still fresh?


... ahem ...


... I once found a paper sack filled with ... uh ... adult videos. The customer was entertaining her mother and a friend, so I discreetly called her aside to tell her what I just found. She immediately shared this information with her companions and the three women shrieked with excitement over the find.

I was the only one embarrassed by the episode.

"She immediately shared this information with her companions and the three women shrieked with excitement over the find."

The best story yet.

What goes on in these places?

The Titanic, Monica's dress and Queen Victoria's bloomers.

I got a picture of a half completed puzzle laid across the plate of a new SS L, babinga. Safe puzzle storage at 45K. [/quote]

Post! Post!

A complete chicken carcass on top of the beam under a recent Steinway B. I assumed the family cat left it there.

A relatively fresh, large, dead rat on top of the keys behind the fallboard of a recent Yamaha C3. (That was a pants peeer!)

Deck of nudie playing cards inside an old Knabe.

Oh, man Marty!!!! That's GROSS. They ought to feature piano techs on Dirty Jobs.

Was chasing a rattle on a old grand and as I climbed under and started feeling around the posts came up with a plastic bag stuffed with, ah, "oregano."

Found dog food nuggets under the keys of an old spinet that were lined up in rows, 6, 5, 6, 5 across the length of the key bed. Pulled out the keys and showed the owner and he said, "why, that's old Rex's dog food. He's been dead for YEARS."

Will post the puzzle pic tomorrow.

My most interesting find was $40,000 in gold coins stored all over the insides of an old spinet.

I was hired to tune the piano, it wasn't playing well, so I opened it up.

It was an amazing sight and I was stunned.

According to the family, "Grampa's" collection had been missing for 20 years.

I know what you are all thinking ....

No, no tip.

I will never forget the time I opened a piano and found a small jewlery repair envelope. I opened it and there was a diamond solitare inside. I called the lady into the room and said "I found your ring inside" and handed it to her. It was ovbious from her expression that this was the first time she had seen the ring..Somebody had some explaining to do when he got home that night, assuming she waited for him to speak.

Worst thing I ever found was a pair of woman's panties behind the fallboard of a 6 month old grand piano. The lady of the house was FURIOUS! "THOSE AREN'T MINE!" are the words I remembered!

I tuned quickly and left! I'm glad I wasn't her husband!

So what was the owner's reaction?

I've seen people roll up "oregano" and smoke it.

I opened up an old upright once and two jumbo sized bags of stale potato chips fell out, but the all time winner in an old Chickering grand behind the damper wires was a 6 foot Python ... very much alive!

No tip? No way! Those cheap ...!!

When the oregeno owner saw me dive under the piano after the buzz he got REAL nervous and when I pulled it out he looked like I just convicted him to Alcatraz. I suggested he find other storage.

The 45K Steinway puzzle storage box:

Found 2 bras in a Baptist Church choir room Acro. Never found live snakes but a snake skin about 4 foot long.

Found jewel boxes with earings and necklace in the bottom of a Lowery console. Old lady was hiding them from her kids.

Hehehehe, I suppose he thought you were going to turn him in. That's too funny that he imagined that under the piano would be a foolproof hiding place for "oregano".

Were they trying to dampen the sound?

Now I want to take apart my piano and see what the last owner might have lost in there...before an errant thong pops up!

I found $1.65 in change between the keyfronts and keyslip on a spinet once -- the customer had noticed that the keyslip was warping and binding the keys, so she was putting in the coins as wedges -- but Larry's story has me all beat for dollar value. And some of the other stories make me grateful for my quiet life!

I won't tell you the worst thing I found in a piano but, suffice it to say, it was not a very pretty site and it was not an animal.