Hello, friends!

Here are two pictures of my new rescue project--an old Haddorff upright.









If you are in the mood for corn-ball humor, give a listen to my 3 minute, 22 second documentary. *ahem*

WARNING: This piano is not in tune. Please do not listen to these selections if you are offended or sickened by an out of tune piano! ...Or corny behavior! ...Or piano tuning jokes! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Haddorff Postcard: a short documentary (Includes 1st section of Joplin's "Weeping Willow," and last section of "Swipesy."

Deep Purple (DeRose/Parish, 1935) (One of my grandmother's favorites. Introduction and 1st verse played as written, 2nd verse played as my grandma often played it.)

Enjoy it, if you can!

--Andy

P.S. I can't wait for Bill Bremmer to get his hands on this piano! Holy moly, is it going to sound GOOD!

wow, the sound is so full, very nice! Great weeping willow, those were nice chops!

And ONLY 100 bucks for these nice tones, LOL !!!

Man, fix and tune that piano ASAP!!

Cute Andy! Setting here cracking up. Great humor. I can hear the potential that piano has! Love mine! The tuning isn't so red hot but, it's not off from pitch (I didn't say TUNE) in the tenor as badly as what I would have expected. The Treble on the other hand???????

Andy, that was great! Sounds to me like you got a real bargain.

cheers,

Jim

Oh man!!! I'd love to have a piano like this to practice on my tuning. Btw, excellent playing!

I guess we'll have to add a RBFT tuning thread.
Or maybe one for FBHC (flooded basement half-century since tuning).
Make up your own description. Though RBFT seems really good.

Greatly enjoyed the performance!

Andy, that's great! VERY funny!
From this demonstration, your reporting of the recent piano competition, and your comments on this forum in general - I really hope you're planning on giving us a weekly radio show or podcast dealing with music! I'll tune in every week!
Come on... say you will!

Speaking of grandmother's favorites - wouldn't it be nice to see a thread dedicated to such recordings? I think many of us would find it a kick to report on what our elders really enjoyed, and then forced us to play for them every time they visited, to justify the money they spent on lessons. My Great Uncle like Star of the East.

Fantastic playing, by the way!

Andy, that is sooo cool!

Thanks, al-mahed! I'm working on a full version of Weeping Willow to post soon. I know it's out of tune. It sounds so wrong, but it sounds so right! LOL! Plus, this piano is really fun to play! The action lets me do things I can't do on the Lester!




Hey, Jerry! I was suprised, too, when I put the tuning fork to it how close it was to pitch. I really like the sound of the last low F in Deep Purple. The richness of the sound is what drew me to this piano--that, and the action is really nice!




Yes, Palindrome! My wife said, "Well, at least it's not a Ferrari!" Also, the guy at the local piano store is still pretty ripped at me for opting for the free Schiller from my neighbor instead of a multi-thousand dollar piano from him! he-he-he...




LA--Please feel free to drop by anytime you are in the neighborhood! After hearing that fresh EBVT III on your last recording, I'd be glad to have you practice your tuning on any of my rescue projects!




LOL! Elecmuse3, I noticed your e-mail and looked up the web-site. Do you have a drawer full of salvaged hammers and hammer parts? Like, say, B7 or C8 perhaps?




Hey, Mattardo! What a nice thing to say! Well...how 'bout if I share my experiences about fixing up the pianos? Since I am pretty much of a blank slate when it comes to piano technology, and somewhat of a clutz, it might result in a few laughs! Tim Allen meets Piano World! Have you ever seen this?:

Laurel and Hardy YouTube clip from "The Music Box"

I am Stan Laurel at 21 seconds! I think it was "Little Blue Engine," who posts on PW, that has the signature "I'll figure it out eventually. Until then, you may want to keep a safe distance!" I love that line!


Thank you, CA! Much appreciated!

--Andy

I LOVE this idea, Mattardo! I remember when I first sight-read "Deep Purple." I must have been about 13 years old. My grandma was in the kitchen snickering...and I could hear her! I said, "What?" And she said, "Oh, nothing! I just like hearing you work through it!" It was stiff, halting, wrong notes everywhere...I had no idea where the melody was on the page, despite hearing her play it several times. She played it a slow rag. I was just trying to get through the page the way it was written! She didn't really read music. Or, perhaps I should say, she was never deliberate about following what was printed... She read enough to get the idea, then played the hell out of it! LOL! She "improved" a lot of music from the 20s, 30, and 40s!

I would like to see such a thread devoted to things our elders wanted to hear us play...but also, things they played for us! It was always a special time visiting my grandma, because she played such fun stuff. My sister, two cousins, and I would pester her until she'd play. She'd say, "Well, what do you want to hear?" And we'd say, "ANYTHING!"

Andy, Brilliant! thank you. You are a very funny man.
And I actually like the tuning. I think of it as the Scout Hall piano sound, and if I find a piano like this in my travels I always try it out.

Lovely playing too, esp 2nd half of deep purple (where it goes all swing-y).

Thanks, Canonie!

That authentic "Scout Hall" piano sound! LOL! Indeed!

I wish you could have heard my grandma play Deep Purple. She had a much richer, more interesting way to play the bass line in a slow rag pattern with rolls--it was truly beautiful.

Andy - I've been out of town - and am still working from someone else's computer. Thanks for bringing this thread to my attention. You are a clever guy indeed - and I'm impressed by your piano "stylings." I really was taken with your performance of Deep Purple. Great job !!

And when that beautiful old war horse of a piano gets worked over a bit its going to be a formidable instrument. For a mere $100 you've just bought yourself the upright equivalent of an old M&H BB. Congratulations!!

Also - did Joplin actually "sign" the piano ???

I'll bring my Fujan the next time I am up that way.

I figured you'd want to hear it, since you were the one to name my spinet "The Mighty Lester!"




We shall see...

That piano belonged to a weeping willow