I AM GETTING A PIANO DELIVERED TO MY PLACE TONIGHT!!!! Finally. This will be my very first instrument. So far I had nothing of my own to practice on. It will also surely do good on my hands since now I will be able to practice several times a day for 30 mins. Instead of 3 hours at a time. When you have to travel to a practice location it's not possible and you have to make the best use of the time in one go.

It's an upright. White, in terrible physical shape but I loved it regardless. It looked beautiful to me even though you might say it's ugly. (love is blind) The keys are ivory. And it's not too old. The action inside is good, it will be tuned and inspected for me before delivery.

Can't wait!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Not being a parent myself, I think my first good instrument probably felt as good as my first child will.

Things are going well for you now! Congratulations Teodor!

Congratulations!

teodor..

(i love your name)

I am so happy for you. You can make it look like whatever you'd like with stain, sandpaper and paint. It sounds wonderful to me.

Please enjoy it and your opportunity to practice at your leisure.

How wonderful! Congratulations, Teodor.

Oh well done teodor, magic, and believe me it will be better than a child.

Why your first piano is better than your first child:
(1) It wont cry in the night and wake you up when you are tired.
(2) It will not smell of unchanged nappies.
(3) It will only need attention when you want to give it attention.
(4) once installed it will cost you a lot less than a child.
(5) Social services wont come round if you hit it.
(6) unlike a child it will not grow up to want your money.
(7) It will allways be there for you.

I can think of more but these are just off the top of my head.

If I was Madonna, I would have collected a few good pianos anyday over token orphans.

HEY!!! I bet That is what THE DREAM was about!!!!

Teodor, that's so exciting! I'm really happy for you! Congratulations.

I can't wait to hear what your "baby" sounds like!

That's what I did with mine, it's from the 1920's (I posted pics b4 on another thread, don't know if you seen them)

wayne, can you please contact me with some advice on repainting if that is what you did? I read you need special paint and polish for pianos because wrong materials will decrease sound quality. Also the people at my local music store said removing the current white finnish and redoing it would cost more than the piano. If I do it myself with the help of my father I bet it won't cost more than a 100 dollars and a weekend of working on it, and that's nowhere near the price of the piano.

Congratulations!my friend,Congratulations!take care.

yeah, sure.

1. Removed all the fixtures and fittings, eg front panels, the fall, all the brass hinges and bits n bobs.

2. Washed all the wood down with soapy water, (my nan smoked 80 cigs a day, so that's alot of nicotine to remove) and painted it all in everyday black gloss. (Probabily could have sanded it a little, but did'nt bother) I must confess, was my partner that painted it for me!

3. Used a mixture of flour, salt and viniger into a paste, and covered all the brass peices, left them for a few hours, before using medium-hard wire brushes to get the 90yrs of muck off the brass!

4. The ivory keys, now that took patience, I did a few keys per day with a toothbrush and aquafresh toothpaste, rinsing the toothbrush in warm water every now and then!

5. The screws were a no go, tried soaking them in viniger, but not much luck, so just replaced the brass screws, luckily for me, I work in a hardware store so getting the correct screws were no problem.

I think that's about it! Screw everything back together, job done!

Oh and recovered the stool! And I just use everday furniture polish on mine and just take care not to get it on the keys, after a while, you get a like a layer of polish, with protects the paint!

Black gloss £5
Screws £2
Wire brushes £1

Congrats, Teodor!

Please dont paint it, like please. It deadens the sound.
Strip all the old paint off, and either wax or oil the wood.

It's a lovely feeling, isn't it?

My very first piano was an old Victorian upright - but it looked gorgeous, well it did to me, so I didn't touch a thing! Sadly the brass candle sconces had already been removed but the front panel was beautifully carved (a bowl of flowers), it had one-piece ivory keys and I adored it. It was so old, it wasn't even overstrung!

Okay, the action was a bit spongy and the soft pedal creaked a lot but I loved that piano and that's what I learned on.

I'm kinda sad that there's no space for an acoustic in my flat, and of course my digital serves so many other excellent purposes (silent practising for one!) and the action is so much better...but...I do miss my old upright.

I wish you lots of joy with yours and (yes, I AM going to make this pun with NO apologies) may you both make beautiful music together.

Woo hoo! Congratulations! What a great thing - (I bet your grandparents will miss having you play, even if they won't admit it )

Cathy

I didn't notice a difference in the sound, mind you, it was out of tune when I got it 2 years ago, and still is lol!

Congratulations, Teodor! Can't wait to see your new piano.

Yeah, we want pictures.

My congratulations, too. You're right about breaking up the practice time into smaller segments being easier on your hands.

I don't think refinishing the piano will mess up the sound, as long as you leave the soundboard and action alone. But I do think it will take you a lot longer than a weekend, and it's a very ambitious project for non-pro refinishers. If it were mine, I think I'd spend the money on tuning a couple of times and some regulating/voicing.

How wonderful for you, Teodor. Congrats!

And Wayne, I think you did a wonderful job on yours.

I am so happy for you Teodor. So is this why you couldn't sleep the other night?

Oh, Teodor, that is just such terrific news. Congratulations. I know how much you've wanted this and you really deserve it. I hope it gives you endless hours of enjoyment.

If there is a story about how you found this piano you've got to tell us. (I know we will get pictures, and music!)


Jim

Teodor -- congratulations. Great news! I can't believe you practiced without your own instrument all this time. That's dedication.

Teodor, that is fantastic! You must be on cloud nine!

I shouldn't say, (but I will), that when I was in high school I decided I wanted a white piano like John Lennon played....so I painted the kind of beat up ebony black piano of ours white with white enamel house paint. In my favor, I had taken this piano apart,(completely apart) many times. I don't remember if I sanded anything first, but it did end up looking pretty cool (I thought). A few years later my parents decided that had been a really bad thing for me to do, and stripped the piano, and refinished it. It took much longer than a weekend! I think it took a couple weeks or three to get it looking good. I'm glad they did this - it's the same piano I have in my house today.

Enjoy and relish your new instrument!

Heck, my first piano looked like crap but I didn't care because it sounded great (to me anyways).
And I finally had a piano which was a big deal!
I had to tune it myself and sometimes replace a pin or two because they wouldn't hold (and I was fairly poor at the time) but it enabled me to have a piano at home and to regularly practice, which I hadn't done since I was a little kid.
Some people care about how their piano looks, I didn't at the time.
But I think it is not a big deal to sand down and finish or paint a piano, although it can be labour intensive.
But even though I like doing projects like that I never got around to it with my old beater.

Congratulations!
A picture would be nice too.

Teodor, after all you've been through, this is truly the ABF "feel-good" story of the year! I'm glad things are turning around for you, my friend.

We're all happy for you. ..and can't wait to hear some new pieces on your new piano.

The story is such. One day, approximately a year ago from now I was in the bus on my way to university. On my left I saw a huge sign which was in the shape of a grand piano just above a bus station stand. I made a note to visit that store and see if they have some old piano I could get for myself for about 300$ (keep in mind our standard is different, we have average monthly income of 300$ per person, some people earn even less, so prices here are different.)

I never found that place again! Until a week ago, I was on my way back from piano lesson. I decided to walk home on foot and chose a different way back for some reason. Then I walk by this sign again! I immediately went into the store. The salespeople were awesome! One of them is a piano performance student in the music academy and was preparing Rachmaninoff Little Red Riding Hood etude for his exam when I walked in.

He showed me all the pianos in my price range (650$) and I didn't like any of them. Then he said "We have a while piano in storage, you can come try it if you want. The cabinet is in terrible shape so we're not asking for much."

So he took me to the storage room and I saw it and it looked beautiful to me. It has ornaments carved in and is a huge upright. All white with ivory keys.

It will need several tunings and voicing if I want it to sound good but I will not be able to afford that till fall. The notes that do sound in tune right now are beautiful.

Here is how it sounds at the moment. I recorded this just after we brought it in. For 650$ the guys from the store drove it across 100 miles and brought it up the stairs in an extremely professional way, there was no rough handling, the piano was moved perfectly out of the van and up the stairs. They knew what they were doing obviously. This is a recording made just after they placed it in the living room.



The lower notes sound so good and dark, with some voicing and tuning this will be an awesome piano to hear! (just check out the last seconds with the octave run)



No I was just excited. I didn't know I was going to get a piano so soon.

Sounds just like "love at first sight". I'm so excited for you Teodor and your piano already sounds beautiful! I can't wait until you have it tuned, all the repairs done, and you submit your first performance!!!

Congratulations!!!

Good deal, enjoy the piano. Someday I will get an acoustic...

Sounds wonderful. Congratulations!

Can't wait to see the pictures.
Unlike most people (it seems) I like white pianos.

Congrats! How come that you have 7 recitals under your name without even having a piano?

For the painting, I'm not an expert on that but I would take it apart, sand it, fill all cracks, and use a paint roller. Google gives some on this

http://www.google.com/webhp#hl=en&xhr=t&q=painting+a+piano+diy&cp=13&pf=p&sclient=psy&site=webhp&source=hp&aq=0b&aqi=&aql=&oq=diy+piano+pai&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=5ef78bb68ade800c&biw=1367&bih=1213

I've been going into practice rooms at various locations every single day and I play for at least two hours with one day of rest per week since the beginning. Also I do nothing else but listen to music and read most of the time. I'm fully dedicated to it at the moment. I get to play in a lot of recitals thanks to my teacher. I work during weekends for a few hours.

Congrats on finally getting a good piano Teodor. Get it inspected, tuned first. After that, you could personalize it and make it your own if you choose. That's a fun project on its own. You can make it look like anything you want if you do a nice job. I'm sure you will.

Before and after pics if you do are a must!

Congratulations, Teodor. I went years and years without an instrument and
only dreaming of playing. It's wonderful beyond words when you can.

Great playing--- Rachmaninoff is beaming down from piano heaven. And, a very nice-sounding instrument. I think you have done very well.

(Actually, at this season of the year, Rachmaninoff vacationed with his family in Central Europe--- not far from you. He liked poker parties and fast rides in his speedboat.)

Teodor,

Wow! I am so happy for you. The piano sounds really nice. You made a good find. I'd suggest that you learn to tune it yourself. Saves you money, and you can keep it in tune more frequently. If it's fairly old, some pins may not hold the tuning as well, so you may need them tuned more often, and so much cheeper if you do it yourself.

BTW, your playing is very nice!

Haha, you guys, if this was my playing I'd be so happy! I will be just as good in some years, just not anytime soon. I've only played for a year and some more. This was a piano performance student trying out my piano.

I'll be studying with his teacher next year if she takes me. She's one of the best pianists in my country. Her husband is a composer and she's trained some of the finest pianists. She is very good at helping pianists play with relaxed hands to avoid injury and to perform better. She really insists on this every time till you make it.

The body is all beaten up and looks old but look inside. It looks quite new.

PICTURES:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150094391202167.270885.680307166&l=c4d0ed4971

Teodor, your piano is very handsome. I will be curious to see if you strip it down to the wood or leave it white.
It has some lovely detail work too - you must be thrilled.

I hope we get to hear what it sounds like soon!

Hi, it sounds like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZixGR0c5oM&feature=player_embedded

Teodor, that sounds wonderful!!!! What a great voice your White Lady has!
And I'm so impressed with how well you can play, truly!

What is the lighter piece you play in the middle ? I know I've heard it in one of the recitals or piano bars.

It's Poem for Adeline! And that's a piano performance art student not me.


http://www.scribd.com/doc/2525411/Ballade-pour-Adeline-Piano-Sheet-Music

Thanks for the link Teodor - and compliments to your fellow student!

Thanks for sharing the photos.

I think it's quite nice, as it is

I got used to the sound. It sounds beautiful. I've been playing Poem for Adelline today, I found a book of popular songs, it has everything from Bach to modern day pop songs, my teacher gave it to me. The arrangement of Poem for Adelline is much more beautiful than the one I posted. I will learn it and record it when I can.

I am so happy with my piano!

I just brought home 3 huge bags containing all my sheet music. Now it's sitting on a shelf next to the piano. I have more than I can learn in several years

It is great you can play at home now and that you don't have to use your grandparents' piano or other pianos any more. Did they see your new piano?

I got a new piano too at the beginning of June and absolutely love it!

The first (real) piano is like the first love - something one doesn't forget...