Music of Sound

And I thought the Steinway Concert D Grand Piano was big! A young local inventor by the name of Adrian Mann of Timaru (half an hour from where I grew up!) has been working on a project that he was the recipient of an AMP scholarship to develop, his project? the world’s largest piano! According to the local newspaper; the Timaru Herald: “There were even a few damp eyes as Mr Mann’s dream became reality on Saturday, and his 5.7 metre-long piano was unveiled in its Pareora shed.
Mr Mann and a trio of invited pianists played everything from Blues to Beethoven on the monstrous instrument. The praise for the piano and its maker just kept on coming from the 100-strong audience of friends, family and supporters, invited to the inaugural recital of the Alexander piano.

And it all began with a couple of waratahs and a piano wire. The then 15-year-old strung the wire between the waratahs, liked what he heard, and was convinced he could build a giant piano to recreate that deep bass sound made by the waratah and piano wire. With only a handful of tools, and working initially in a neighbour’s garage, Mr Mann began what was a project that would last more than three years. When the growing piano became too large for the garage, it was moved to a neighbouring farm’s tractor shed. With no plans available for such a project, Mr Mann found himself having to design many of the piano’s components. He hand-made four sets of the 700mm long piano keys before he was satisfied.
When traditional piano-building materials weren’t available, he improvised. The spruce used for soundboards wasn’t available so Mr Mann cross-cut Canadian Douglas Fir bought from a salvage yard instead. An estimated 85 per cent of the piano is made from recycled materials.
For the past three months, he has worked 12 hours a day to complete the piano, named after the great-great grandfather who brought his family to New Zealand in the 1880s. Mr Mann’s project is a success. The piano produces the sound he was after. Christchurch pianist Kay Cox described it as “grunty and growly”.

via noise addicts