Mrs. D., in Carmichael, has about five of these sculptures, representing a pianist, guitarist, violinist, drummer, and another I can't remember. They are cartoonish but extremely well done.  

Tune for juice

I was tuning a piano for a benefit event for the Gold Country Orchestra. I was going to donate the tuning, but then the owner offered me this commercial juice extractor. I had never owned a juicer, so I took it home. When I used it to make some (delicious) persimmon juice, it shook and made horrible noises. I am selling it on eBay. So far, no bids.

Folkie Knabe

This is from an old Knabe owned by a Davis couple that reminded me of some of the hippie kids I went to high school with. It fit very well with their folkie decor. The piano has all kinds of interesting details like the action frame that has little hexagonal nuts for seating it on the keybed.

This Noah's Ark, in a Sunday school classroom, seems to be splitting in half with a tiger clinging for dear life. 

This is a 1921 Steinway M in an old Sacramento house. The present owner is in his sixties and grew up in this house. His father ran the State Fair and spent an hour or two every morning reading something from this bookshelf. Titles include The American Commonwealth and California Blue Book of 1907.  

A life in tune

A concert pianist who became a piano tuner, from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Article in New York Times

A painter in the East Village who has a big Mason & Hamlin grand in his studio and plays it in his spare time.

This was on a shelf above a customer's piano. The son of the house had an assignment to make a ceramic piece that symbolized his life. The boat has piano keys around the edge, and the cat is holding a computer monitor that displays "www.com". 

I've worked for this store for fifteen years. They are the most successful store in town by a long shot. I get tons of new customers from them.  

This is what happens when you tune pianos for twenty years and play tennis on the weekends. My elbow hurts, but this brace is helping. 

We went up to Bill Spurlock's Vacaville house and shop so he could do some custom sandblasting on Jennifer's glasses. Because of her eye condition, she has to do this every time she gets a new pair of glasses. To either side of the glasses, you can see a tray full of the famous Spurlock Specialty Tools bushing cauls. To date, he has sold more of them than there are people on Earth.  

San Jose

My cousin Doug in San Jose has a nice collection of keyboards. He has a Steinway M, a Hammond B-3 with Leslie, and a non-tonewheel Hammond (foreground).

This painting is by Elymr DeHory, the greatest art forger of the 20th century. When I first saw it in Trudy H.'s house, I thought, "That can't be a real Modigliani." And it wasn't. Among his many other accomplishments, deHory provided the fake Pisarros for the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.

These keys cracked and fell off in a very odd pattern. They are the same way on the bass end. The customer is having them all recovered. Maybe Yvonne, the key expert, can explain how this happened; I have never seen anything like this before.