<br><br> <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 8:27 AM, Cy Shuster <<a href="mailto:cy@shusterpiano.com">cy@shusterpiano.com</a>> wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"> <div bgcolor="#d8d0c8"> <div><font size="2">Birdseed is pretty common.</font></div> <div><font size="2"></font> </div> <div><font size="2">I also found an Indian head cent from 1898 under the keys of a piano made in 1895 (Mendelssohn).  But I think the real treasures are the gold stars... just thinking about the patient teaching, and the hard work of students.</font></div> <div><font size="2"></font> </div> <div><font size="2">--Cy--</font></div> <div><font size="2">ABQ, NM</font></div> <div> </div></div></blockquote></div> <div><br>I find pictures all the time and frequently when I give them to the owners they have no idea who they are, the pics are from previous owners!</div> <div> </div> <div>I did have one rather neat thing happen, I had a customer with a very dead old upright and I explained to him what it would cost to put it right, that it wasn't a great specimen to begin with and suggested he find another piano. He bought a new one from the store I was tuning for at the time he asked if I would instruct him on how to dismantle the old piano, he's the recycling manager for the city and wanted to recycle as much as he could. I explained how to take it apart safely and he did, taking the plate and strings to a metal recycler, using some of the wood in his shop and burning some of the rest in his fireplace. </div> <div> </div> <div>When I arrived to tune the next time there was small frame above the piano with an opera ticket in it from 1901, he had found it under the balance rail, intact and thought it was nice reminder of the old piano he and his kids had recycled.<br clear="all"> <br>Mike</div> <div>--</div> <div> We have enough youth, how about a fountain of SMART?<br>Michael Magness<br>Magness Piano Service<br>608-786-4404<br><a href="http://www.IFixPianos.com">www.IFixPianos.com</a><br>email <a href="mailto:mike@ifixpianos.com">mike@ifixpianos.com</a> </div>