What I learned from smashing up a Packard today.

[Piannaman@aol.com]

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A piano hitting the ground or other large, heavy object is reminiscent of a  
motor vehicle accident.  The sound was not a good one, as I was directly,  and 
unintentionally, involved in its creation.  It might have been  interesting 
had I been a non-partial observer.
 
If a piano falls on the pavement and there's no one there to hear it, does  
it really make a noise?
 
Dave Stahl
 
In a message dated 11/3/2005 1:57:29 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
bassooner42@yahoo.com writes:

I'd like  to hear that on a CD.  I played in an "orchestra" a few times
in  SF/Oakland that destroyed a piano as its musical climax.   I have  a
scar from that (playing glissandi with spray paint  can).
Rick



Quoted:
What I learned from smashing up a  Packard today.
Piannaman@aol.com Piannaman@aol.com
Thu, 3 Nov 2005  12:22:26 EST


Gordon,

I thought I'd share my Packard  experience.

Back in my piano moving days a couple of decades ago, I was  moving one
of  
these beasts.  It was quite heavy and rather  unwieldy, to put it 
mildly.  I had 
no help that day, and it got  away from me on the lift gate  of the
truck (in 
the up  position).  It toppled 5 feet to the ground onto  it's back.   In
a very 
shaky, quite adrenalized state, I got it upright and  on  the dolly
again, and 
when it got to its destination, it played as  though  nothing at all had

happened to it. Further examination  revealed that nothing  did!

They were strong, for sure.   Great playing pianos~

Dave Stahl

In a message dated 10/31/2005  7:48:38 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
lclgcnp@yahoo.com  writes:

Had to smash up a 1920's Packard upright, today,
one  of  the best-playing, best sounding pianos I've
ever seen. I felt bad  about it,  but it was in the way
and had terrible case and bridge  damage due to  some
moron parking it beneath a dripping/spraying  air
conditioner.   Still, the sound was magnificent.
That it  did not die in  vain, I relate the
following:
It had a heavy  pressure bar.  The plate was almost
like steel. Members that would  have broken with a  claw
hammer on most pianos took 10 whacks with  a  full
sized sledge  before they split ( Ugh! ) The back  posts
and blocks were all of 5, 3/4"  plys of mahogany and
rock  maple. The soundboard was 3/8" thick at the  
upper edge, and 5/16"  thick at the lower edge, of
wonderfully straight,  tight-grain spruce  with about 40
lines per inch. It had a  dozen ribs  that were  very
stout: the largest being 1-1/4" wide and 7/8"  thick.
These  also appeared to be radially cut, so the belly
was very  solid, with  both rib and compression
crowning, as far as I could  tell.
The  treble bridge had a vertically laminated  root
and was doweled into  the board every 4 inches.
The  bass bridge was stright, on a small  shelf.
They keys were  very short, to minimalize inertia.
The piano  was very wide and 52" tall, to  allow shorter
action parts for better  response, while maintaining
board  size and string  length.
Considering the amount of water that  obviously had
sprayed  on to it, most pianos would have been
completely  destroyed. But this  one sounded and played
wonderfully, to my amazement.   
Peace,
G

P.S. Oh yes! It also said  "Founded 1871",   so my guess
is that the Packard family learned it's  stuff  making
pianos before it started making   automobiles.




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