Nine Feet of Spruce
A rebuilt 1962 concert grand for a new baby
The ask
Our daughter had her first baby this summer. She studied piano seriously, gave it up for medicine, and now plays a rented upright late at night. She has the room. We'd like the baby to grow up with a real instrument in the house. No ceiling.
The gift
A nine-foot concert grand built in 1962 and rebuilt in a restoration shop with a new action, hammers, strings, and pinblock, its iron plate repainted and its case refinished in polished black. After delivery, a concert technician regulates and voices it in her room, and returns to tune it after the first change of season. A wax-sealed card arrives in the linen box.
Why it's extraordinary
A concert grand is built to carry to the back of a hall, with bass strings far longer than any upright can hold. Rebuilt with new strings and action, it is ready for decades more, long enough for the baby to learn on it.
The moment
The grand is played most nights once the baby is asleep, with the lid down and the door closed.
A curator replies within one business day.
