flying burning pianos (OT)

[John Dewey]

Having been the host for several PTG chapter picnics where we had  piano
demolition derbies for piano shaped objects I can say that the plate very
rarely breaks. The sound is about like what you would get if you turned a
group of 6 year old kids with drum sticks loose on an upright with the
action removed. Our demo derby was to get 2 uprights about 90 feet apart on
a concrete floor and run them into each other as fast as we could push them.
On one occasion I had a neighbor kid back into an upright piano shaped
object at about 20 to 30 MPH with his demolition derby Cadillac. The plate
didn't break. Just put a small scratch in the Caddy but totaled the piano.

John Dewey


-----Original Message-----
From: Tvak@AOL.COM <Tvak@AOL.COM>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 8:19 AM
Subject: flying burning pianos (OT)


>I was channel-surfing Sunday night and came across a show called SEEING IS
>BELIEVING.  One of the segments highlighted the activities of Hugh Wheeler
>from Shropshire, England.  A rich, retired gentleman with time on his
hands,
>Hugh decided to build a Trebuchet, which is a medieval weapon, sort of like
a
>catapult.  This trebuchet was about 3 stories tall, and was able to hurl
cars
>in the air.  Hugh loaded a vertical piano onto the thing, strapped a
>container of gasoline to the piano, doused it and set it on fire, and
>launched it a distance of about 2 or 3 city blocks.  The sight of the
burning
>piano flying through the air was priceless, as was the explosion when it
hit
>the ground.  Unfortunately the sound of the explosion masked the sound of
the
>harp breaking apart, the strings snapping, etc., all of which I would like
to
>have heard.
>
>Who among us couldn't comprise a list of pianos that we've serviced in the
>past which would benefit from such treatment?  (See thread entitled
"Re:Betsy
>Ross".)
>
>Tom Sivak
>