amy brown

Piano: Yamaha G3 grand (1981). Bought in July 2020 for $13,500. It's a full size grand, 17 inches longer than my original piano below (the baby grand)! I needed a piano that sounded better than my old girl, because a long-term goal is to record a Satie album (at home, for friends and family).

        

Piano: Baldwin Hamilton baby grand (1942). Inherited in the mid-1980s from my grandmother. I named her Ada Anastasia after the character in the move The Piano and a Tori Amos song. She's wearing out, so I bought a newer, much larger piano. And I'm keeping this Baldwin, maybe to become a "prepared" piano, altering its sound. It will be fun! So yes, I have two pianos. The pictures below were its original location, before I bought the grand.

        

Harpsichord: Burton kit (1960s-70s). Bought, partially assembled, from eBay in the late 1990s for about $500. It was avocado green at the time. I painted it blue and red, did the gold trim, and even painted the soundboard. I paid a local keyboard builder a couple of thousand dollars to have it assembled the rest of the way. Works, but has a couple of jacks that stick or keys that don't produce sounds. Will need some restoration. Trivia: the inside of one of the keys is signed by Tori Amos, whose music first introduced me to the harpsichord.

                       

Clavichord: Zuckerman style kit (1960s-70s). Bought from eBay in 2018. Between the item and the shipping, I spent about $600. Works, but the upper octave needs to be strung because all those strings had been broken before. Will need some restoration.

        

Reed Organ: Beckwith (circa 1900). Family piece. Exterior was immaculately maintained by the relative who gave it to me. The insides will need some restoration. The bellows work, thankfully, but some keys stick or produce "off" sounds.

              

Celestette: Jenco (1960s). Bought from a Craigslist ad for about $100 in 2017. The case looks bad, but it plays. Still, could use some restoration.

        

Organ: Wurlitzer 4460 (circa 1960). Bought from a classifieds ad for about $100 in the late 1990s. I used to play it a lot, but the keys no longer produce sound. It does turn on, though. I am optimistic to get it playing again.

           

Toy Pianos (selection): Schoenhut and Jaymar (dates unknown). Bought from eBay in the 2000s. They work just fine! I have several toy pianos. I also have over 100 miniature pianos! Some of them play music, most are figurines. MiniPianos.com

  

Theremin: Moog. Bought new in 2017. I have yet to learn to play it. It's supposedly one of the hardest instruments to learn, because you're just moving your hands in the air to play it. I like its sound. My dogs do not. (It is electronic and works through an amp.)

     

Stylophone: Bought in 2016 at Switched On, the music store in Austin, Texas where Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead, my favorite band) had famously shopped the week before. The salesman offered to let me play their modular synthesizer... I was too shy to play around with an instrument I'd never seen up close before. So I bought this instead.

  


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Dated 2012-2021 by Amy Brown.

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