Embarrassed Cat ! !

[Sy Zabrocki]

>From Sy Zabrocki--Billings, Montana

While tuning a grand the other day the man came around and told me a funny
story about his cat. (The cat probably didn't think it was funny). During
the night he heard his cat making this terrible screeching sound. When he
came running into the living room he found his cat  HANGING  BY  IT'S TAIL
which was caught by the key cover. The cat must have somehow stepped on the
cover causing it to fall. I only laughed politely because I immediately
doubted the store. C'mon I'm thinking. The key cover is not that
heavy--won't the cat's tail just slip out?

I become curious about this and investigated. It now seems possible this
could have happened. On a Kawai KG-2 (and others) the key slip it tapered.
The end of the key cover is round. When the cover closes the two surfaces do
not mate parallel but at an angle Try this.. Insert a tuning mute or a cloth
folded over and close the cover onto the mute. Attempting to pull the mute
out does cause the cover to drag down and cause a sorta of compound leverage
between the key slip and key cover. So the cat's tail might just be the
right thickness and texture when confronted with this leverage. Ha ha cat.

You know, cats saunter around like they own the place. They hardly show any
emotion at all, except maybe when they're hungry.  The cat had no business
on the piano anyway. It's kind of fun to see a cat "embarrassed once in
awhile".  Ooooooh! I'm going to get blasted from the cat owners now.

We just ordered in our first Kawai RX  5'10" grand. This is Kawai's new line
and it's one fine piano. Incidently this new Kawai is equipped with a "soft
fall" dual-damping fall board. No cats will be hanging by their tails around
this piano.

Sy Zabrocki
only4zab@mcn.net