Raven Jake Dawes

Public Piano Project at the Coyote Corner

Y'all know I'm a sucker for a street piano. Turns out the one in Joshua Tree really has some history behind it.

Poor thing is as flat as can be - could really use a tuning. Now the public pianos I'm familiar with are mostly the ones in LA left from last year's Play Me I'm Yours project so I had to turn to Wikipedia to get schooled about this one:

The Public Piano Project in Joshua Tree California began as a public grand piano Valentine Gift to the community in 1995 as the Self Serve Serenade by artist Piano Bob (aka Bob Fenger). In 2002 Piano Bob began a donated piano consolidation project building a weather proof outdoor piano from the parts of 3 pianos and installed April 2004 in front of Joshua Tree Health Foods. It was enjoyed by thousands of Joshua Tree National Park Visitors and locals for nearly 2 years and was reinstalled 20 April 2012 at the Coyote Corner Gift Shop in Joshua Tree as the first Public Prepared Piano. The piano is reminiscent of a Gamelan Orchestra prepared with everyday items such as coins, screws, paper mutes, wedged into the strings in a typical John Cage manner(inventor of the prepared piano in the 1940s also see Bob Fenger's Acoustisizer at Prepared piano 2.10). The Public Prepared Piano is the third phase of the Public Piano Project dedication to unknown closet pianists, art in public places, and instant drum circle fun around a keyboard. Through regular tuning and maintenance of the public pianos another opportunity presented itself for the public to observe, learn and interact with the total Public Piano Project experience. Questions like: how long does it stay in tune outside? The short answer: the colder the better the more in tune. The fact that Joshua Tree is in the High Desert above Palm Springs with many 100 degree plus days in the summer gave numerous opportunities for tuning, sharing and exchanging ideas. The artist's stated intention: 'The Public Piano Project creates momentary beauty thoughts and ideas that resonate out across fields, parking lots and sidewalks. It invites others to play along and gives way to song and laughter, accidental bonding and new friends; even possibly an ephemeral center of insight and change'. On 21 December 2012 Piano Bob launched his fourth phase of the Public Piano Project with the Prepared and Unprepared dueling pianos for peace at the Joshua Tree Hospice. Public Piano Locations Public Piano Tour Pictures 2007.

 

 

The Piano Bluebook

Well, restoration on my piano is almost complete - my sister-in-law and her partner helped us haul it into the house and it needs the (not original) legs put back on, a little felt and some knobs and good to go. 

So I thought it might be interesting to see what the  bluebook of pianos  has to say about it. Basically, if you e-mail them with your make and model number, they'll tell you the year it was made. We were thinking 1895 seemed a little early for the mission-inspired look of this piano. but the ads of the period show styles that are very similar. They never saw a photo or anything, and appraisals are a separate issue, but for getting an age it's a great resource.  Over there at the right, I'm puttin' in keys. Make sure you number them before taking them out. Just sayin'.

I see from the ads that the pianos ran around $300-$600, so talk about holding the value.  I'm still at a little over $300 all up. Tuning will probably bring it up to around $450.  117 years old and hasn't depreciated significantly. Given the history of the company, the piano was definitely manufactured  before  Krell became Krell-French and moved from Cincinnati to Newcastle, Indiana.  The ads really flog their Auto-Grand model which, as far as I can tell, means it's got some gimicky music roller thing in the middle. Probably added another $50 to the price and worked for two weeks. Krell people, am I wrong? Is your Auto-Grand still rolling? I've got a more standard music rack on mine and no complaints.

It is kind of funny to look at these old ads promoting Krell Pianos as being "your partner for life," but there's some truth there. Guaranteed this piano survived it's original owner, and most likely it's going to survive me too.

Here's what Albert Furst from the bluebook had to say:

Krell Piano Company
54" Cabinet Grand Upright
Serial Number 1822
Manufactured  1895

The Krell Piano Company was established by Albert Krell and his sons Alexander and Albert, Jr., in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1889. Alexander Krell died in 1895, and Albert Sr. died in 1900, leaving Albert Krell Jr. to run operations. Albert went into partnership with Jesse French to create the Krell-French Piano Company of Springfield, Ohio, but their factory was destroyed by fire soon after. Pianos continued to be made under the name 'Krell' and 'Krell-French'. In 1905 Albert left Krell-French to start the Auto-Grand Piano Company in Indiana. The Krell name continued to be produced until about 1950. Krell pianos are of very good quality, indicating that Krell produced a higher grade piano than average.

Click here>  http://www.bluebookofpianos.com/ratings.htm
 
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Robert T. Furst - Author
Bluebook of Pianos