Monday, March 10, 2008

Walter's Been Exposed!

Saturday proved to be a real overhaul for poor, dear Walter. Honestly, when I made the appointment I hadn’t truly understood what it would entail. I suppose I’m a bit naïve when it comes to these type of examinations and procedures. It’s not that I am uninterested; I just had never given it much thought.

You can imagine my surprise when I walked into the room to find Walter, standing bare-naked, while Dr. Davis examined him.

Shocked does not begin to describe my emotions.

I stammered…I stuttered…

“Wow,” I blushed, “I…I had no idea…”

Dr. Davis, piano tuner extraordinaire, simply chuckled and continued to examine our dear Walter. He’d removed Walter’s top, side, and front panel, leaving him exposed and showing, ahem, all the dust, dirt, and cobwebs that had accumulated over the years. Poor baby.

For those of you who own pianos, I’m certain you will consider flinging your tuning fork at me when I admit that we’ve never (never, ever, never) had Walter tuned. He has been a member of our family for six maybe seven years and we’ve neglected him terribly.

Dr. Davis labored over Walter for four hours. FOUR HOURS that Saturday afternoon. Walter moaned, he groaned, and frankly, our heads pounded with each note. Holy metronome! The sounds that poor piano made left us all shaky and nervous.

At last Dr. Davis pronounced Walter healthy after tapping down his strings and giving him an A-440 tuning. He advised us to have him tuned again in six months. He also shared information about Walter’s linage, of which we had no idea. It seems that our dear Walter is an Aldrich, which meant next to nothing to me. He’s just Walter, the piano we never thought we’d own.

For those of you who don’t know, Aldrich is a step down from a better piano. In other words, Walter is a Geo versus a Honda; which is okay with us. Walter is an easy going, unassuming, guy. We love him despite his less than stellar appearance and even though he’s got a few scars, we find him to be a very handsome fellow.

Now our dear Walter dances with our dear Miss C, filling our home with delightful melodies such as Rondo Alla Turca, Fur Elise, and Blood Ritual/Moonlight Serenade (from Pirates of the Caribbean).

Even though we’ve abused and neglected you dear Walter, we love you and we are so happy you are feeling better.





Countdown: 24 days

3 comments:

Kiva said...

That reminds me, I have to get Henry tuned now that he's moved. How did you find your expert piano doctor?

Barrie said...

Did Walter get a sticker at the end of his exam? :)

Very, very funny post!

Anonymous said...

Shall I confess the piano handed down from DH's parents to us about 15 years ago has been tuned one time, it has moved from Idaho to Virginia to Hawaii, to Idaho and now to Tennesee -- the tuning took place long before Hawaii (remember it sat in a carport for two years in Hawaii's humidity and dust . . . we were such haoles. ROFL - and it still sounds pretty good .. . maybe one day we will get it tuned again and the felts replaced . . . ROFL . . . and our piano has no name . . . hmmm . . .

Kat (meow)