Unbelievable

[Ron Nossaman]

>Most people who want a grand, just for class, have enough sense to know
>that it's gotta at least work, even if it sounds crummy.
>
>Clyde

When we were clearing my wife's father's estate, one of the "pianos" he had
in the shop didn't quite meet even that criteria. I don't remember what it
was, but at some time, one of his helpers had strung and refinished it. It
ended up a sort of neon orange color, and wasn't by any stretch of the
imagination a serviceable instrument. 

We were considering hauling it to the dump since we were sure nobody would
buy it, when one of my wife's clients mentioned that his wife wanted a
purely decorative, cheap, non-functional piano in the living room to
arrange pictures and such on. Preferably a grand. We sold the thing to him
(they wouldn't let me give it away) with the disclaimer and provision that
he never call me to tune it, or that they never expect to turn it into a
working piano. About three years later, he called. It had been eating away
at his wife to have a dead piano in the house, and she wanted it working
well enough for her to play around with. No, I didn't.

I wish I could remember what the brand was. It didn't have a free capo bar,
but had a series of holes drilled through the plate for the treble strings. 

Ron N