Day 43: Ingenuity

Livia accidentally dropped a paper into the piano a couple of days ago. It seemed prudent not to play the piano until it was removed, but removal presented a challenge. There was no easy way to reach the paper. With a flashlight, holding the keyboard lid halfway open, I could see the paper but my hands were just too big to fit into the space. Livia’s, too. The job required a tool, but it had to be something flexible that couldn’t possibly harm the piano.

Behold!

Piano Fishing Tool
This tool was made from a pipe cleaner and three pieces of tape, one piece to grab the paper, and two pieces to secure the first piece to the pipe cleaner.
See how well the tool grabs and holds the paper?

I triumphantly showed the fishing tool and retrieved piece of paper to my husband and he said, “You should blog about that. It’s the first time a woman ever invented a tool!” (Ha-ha. He’s not actually a sexist jerk. He just pretends to be for the sake of a joke.)

Anyway, I was quite proud of my solution until my friend sent me a link to a page that explained the professional way to remove things from inside the piano. Most modern grand pianos have keyboard lids (officially termed “fallboards”) that can be easily removed simply by opening them and lifting them off. I took mine off today just to see if it could be done, and it was indeed very easy. Had I known about it, that would have been the best way to retrieve the paper. Live and learn. But, had my piano been an older model, my solution would have been the best one (the other options being to go under the piano and actually unscrew things, or to call a piano tuner). So hooray for ingenuity!

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One Response to Day 43: Ingenuity

  1. sprite says:

    I salute your ingenuity!

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