Buying a piano

Emily, getting perilously close to her due date, worked her last day with Frederick today. (I don't think the reality of that has sunk in with Frederick--or any of us, for that matter.) We wanted to buy her a present to show how much we appreciate everything she has done for Frederick all these years--almost 8 years--but didn't want to get something technological since that would be out of date within a few months, or anything for the baby since that wouldn't really be for her...it was near impossible to think of anything. I finally remembered her saying a VERY long time ago that she always regretted not continuing with her piano lessons. Well, that was that. Both the FIM and UM-Flint have an annual piano sale (their piano departments sell off used/refurbished pianos so that they can then restock with new pianos). So Simon and I called both piano departments to find out more--we just missed one sale by a week, but we could go to the main warehouse which is about 45 minutes away and, strangely enough, about 10 minutes from Thomas's new school. Here it is:

For some reason Simon thought the fact that they had an old used Wurlitzer with ivory keys from about 1910 was really cool.

This is the main gallery, when you first enter, where the brand new Steinways are. We weren't interested in these pianos, though the salesman forced us to view them.

I guess Elton John buys his pianos here.

More pianos than you can shake a stick at. Needless to say, Frederick did have a wildly good time while I was taking care of the paperwork. (I did catch sight of him at one point playing one piano with his feet--things I hope no salesman saw. Though if Jerry Lee Lewis did it, why can't he, dammit?)

Here's the room we wanted: the used/refurbished warehouse in the basement. These are all pianos that come from music schools/university/programs that want to upgrade and sell these to this Steinway center to refurbish and resell. It is amazing, and slightly overwhelming, because each piano not only looks completely different but, of course has a unique tone and "feel." After a while, it all gets too much and you just point to a piano and say, "That one."

This is the other room, the work room, where they gut pianos and refurbish them. Our salesman, who also teaches university music courses in Detroit, said that they can empty out the fittings of a piano, fill it with electronics bits, and then you hook up your MP3 player to it to turn it into a modern player piano. Weird.

A bigger view of the workroom, but still only part of it. Here you can see some of the grand pianos being gutted and refurbished. They started at around $5,000--too rich for our blood though not, actually, too horrific, really. Also, just too damn big on an instrument for most houses.

What other strange things exist in little buildings that we don't know about? We bought the piano last Saturday and it was delivered about two hours ago. We told Emily she had to go home because her present was being delivered. We told her that she didn't have to like it, but she did have to be there to accept it. Simon added that she could sell it if she wanted, just don't tell us about it. She called about 30 minutes later, claiming that she loved it--astonished to see a piano movers truck arrive with a piano to her house. We'll have to take her word for it but she seemed pleased enough.