truepenny | pianos

My piano is going to be delivered tomorrow.

I cannot believe how geeked I am about this. I spent much of the weekend, when I should have been working on Chapter 14 (it hates me, and I'm beginning to suspect it may be Undead, as well), surfing the web looking at pictures of old grand pianos.¹ I learned rather a lot about Steinways, Bösendorfers², and Bechsteins, as well as Blüthners.

I discovered that I love old grand pianos. Not in the Gotta catch 'em all! Pokemon sense, but in terms of hopelessly admiring their beauty and being stunned with wonder that they exist and have survived and are still being played. I really did spend hours simply looking at pictures and reading descriptions and wanting to rescue these magnificent dowagers from the people who put CD players in them.

So here is my invitation to all y'all. If you love, or have loved, a grand piano, tell me about it. As much detail as you want. And if you can link to pictures, that's definitely a bonus.

---
1. Apparently "antique" is a term applied only to pianos built before about 1850, when the current soundboard shape was developed. (The history and development of the piano grossly oversimplified for the sake of not having a footnote longer than the main post.)

2. One thing I learned is that Bösendorfers do not please my sense of visual aesthetics. Their sound quality may be fantastic, but my GOD those puppies* are ugly.

---
*Speaking of puppies,