Chiiiing! (Watch for richochet!)

[Les Smith]

On Tue, 13 Aug 1996 TunerJeff@aol.com wrote:

> Dear Daryl,
>       It can be fun and entertaining... but DO be respectful of the weapons
> and target!
>
>      A piano's plate is multi-faceted, dense, and quite capable of returning
> whatever you fling at it BACK in your direction. In all honesty, I would not
> repeat the experiment again. One concession to safety was leaning the piano
> slightly forward, so that the bulk of the reflected shots were driven into
> the ground at the foot of the instrument (... I use the term loosely) in
> similiar fashion to the angled steel found at the rear of indoor shooting
> ranges. Of course, the crunched front legs made that easier to arrange!
>
>       Nonetheless, wear hearing protection (...especially if your buddy plans
> to use an elephant-gun!) and keep clear of your neighbor's muzzle-flash, all
> automatic-weapons flinging shells, and irate return-fire from the target of
> the day!
>
> Yours in advisement,
> Jeff
>
> ps-
>     The only pianos I have ever destroyed or thrown away are the two (count
> 'em, two!) that I listed in that post. Each piano ever built is the
> culmination of hundreds of hours
>  (... or years) of design, thought,  & labor. I just can't bring myself to be
> responsible for the death of a piano, in most cases. I have delivered the
> benediction on a few over the years... but the owner gets the job of
> disposing of it! Both of the pianos I listed were TOTALLY beyond any chance
> of repair... but I saved the actions out of both of 'em.
> I can't get away from the fact that each piano was once new... and graced the
> home of some budding pianist, or church, or school, or.... well, you get the
> picture.
>      Guess I don't want to be haunted by piano-spectres in the night(...also
> am a softy-at-heart, I suppose). Mebbe they'll be waiting on the farside!!!
>

One of Ray Bradbury's great short stories concerns an undertaker who abuses
and makes fun of the corpses in his care, before he burys them. One dark and
stormy night they all rise out of their graves and come looking for him seek-
ing revenge. I'd hate to think that some dark and lonely night a group of
disgruntled Kranich and Bach grands are going to come looking for me!

Les Smith
lessmith@buffnet.net