Free Baby Grand Piano, Clearlake, N. Cal.

[Elliot]

Free Baby Grand Piano, incomplete; Clearlake, Northern California.

This is a white baby grand made in Korea in recent years. It is missing the lid and one leg. I bought it dirt cheap from a salvage company because somebody (a moving company, presumably) lost the lid and the leg. The lyre and pedals seem to be complete. Comes with matching bench.

My thinking is to fasten it into the body of a Mutant Vehicle so it does not need legs. But I will never get around to that.

I have not verified that everything works, since the piano is still strapped to its moving skid. But this thing is so new it doesn’t even have dust in it, and I see no damage on the outside.

Free “to good home”, preferably for on-Playa use.

Must be picked up in Clearlake, Lake County, Northern California; 90 miles north of San Francisco and Sacramento. I can lift it into your pickuptruck with my chainfall.

[Dr. Pyro]

That's a very nice offer Elliot. Had Barbie Death Camp not just acquired a nice piano for camp use, I would have considered taking you up on your offer. Hope it finds a nice home.

[Elliot]

Hopefully this one will hold a tune better than the last one I lent you!

[xenixesa]

Hi there,

I know this will not help much but I am looking to create a mobile piano station, welding a few bikes together to support the piano. As we live in The Netherlands we are not going to bring our own piano, nor welder. If anybody decides to take this piano let me know if we can join forces.

The idea is to have a mobile, bicycle powered solo piano machine... In honesty an upright would probably be better in terms of supporting the weight, but I am sure we can work something out.

Julien

[Elliot]

Ah.... A thousand pardons.... I neglected to post that the piano was taken. Ygmir picked it up, and he has fabricated a fabulous base that replaces the original legs. The new legs are three giant tree stumps. The piano is intended for the staff kantina of the Gate, Perimeter & Exodus Department, but if a "civilian" is a piano- or tree-trunk- aficionado, just ask Ygmir or me and we will teach you the secret handshake. Specially if you can play the silly thing!

Even better, if you can tune it (if it seems to need it). I plan to place a tuning lever and a mute with the piano, but I lack the skill.

Julien, you have a great idea! I brought two upright pianos in 2010. One I put on wheels so it could be pushed around on firm playa without getting stuck, and I placed it permanently in a bar. The other I built a cart for so it could be towed behind a small Mutant Vehicle or a multi-person pedal-vehicle, and this one I moved to different locations every day. Good fun was had with both pianos.
The one on the cart got rained on, and then it fell off the cart, so it was "a wee bit" out of tune after that, but only Dr. Pyro noticed.

But these were full size uprights, which weigh something like 500 or 600 pounds (very rough guesstimate). (Roughly half that many kilograms.) For toting around on Playa I would suggest a smaller piano, the kind with the action below the keyboard. People often call this style "spinet", although it is not actually a spinet in the traditional sense. I don't know what they are officially called, but the top of the piano is only something like 6 or 8 inches (15 - 20 centimeters) above the keys.

I don't suppose you plan to build your Mobile Piano Station for this year? Not much time left. But if you think you can still get it done for this year, I would suggest you look for the "spinet" piano on Craigslist. You might have to pay a few bucks for a spinet, whereas the big old uprights can often be had for free. But you don't want it to get too awfully stuck in the dust.

And.... Sorry, but I have no time to help you build or transport it.