I can recall having a pianola meeting and party many years ago to which
a friend invited a well-respected local piano technician, who proceeded
without warning to thump one of the keys on my Steinway Duo-Art grand.
Why, I shall never know.
After the meeting, I discovered that one of the piano hammers was
suspended in mid-air. Yes, the one which had been played so hard!
Fortunately, I had invited Mike Boyd to the meeting, as he looks after
my instruments in his professional capacity and is a good friend. You
will know that removing the piano action from a Duo-Art grand is not
a five-minute job, at least not for me. I was grateful that Mike was
on hand to do it.
So the moral of the story is not to pound piano keys. It is not
necessary for tuning purposes and cannot be said to produce a pleasant
tone.
Terry Leonard
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