Part 4 - Work starts on Semigrand No1

Tools at the ready!

 

Robin and I started to think of what we needed to do to get the Semigrand actually in production, first get the material.

Real grand pianos are made of wood and the bendy bit at the back of the piano is multi layered (good quality) plywood, which to get the bendy shape is steamed. This makes the wood flexible and so then is able to be bent around a grand-piano shaped former.

This is where we started and the first part of the unit, the back-box was constructed.

Semigrand No1
in its original matt black finish

Semigrand No2 at our first wedding fair

A major consideration was the weight of each piece, so we ended up with the piano being split into 8 parts, no one part to be too heavy. The keyboard I use mainly for my gigs is an old Technics P30 (not made any more, sadly) and the reason I originally chose it was that is was the lightest and most compact 88 note keyboard that had a weighted piano action feel.

It weighs 11.5 kg, which is quite manageable, so we kept our largest bit which is the backbox, under that weight. In fact the backbox only weighs weighs 10Kg. All 8 bits of the unit only weigh 45 kg when put together. This is essential as I wanted to be able to carry the piano shell to site, and assembled by one person, that person would probably be like me, the pianist! The next thing was to paint it, how do we do that? See the next instalment part 5.

www.semigrand.com

peter.willson2@btopenworld.com