Aaron Rabushka: >A few days ago I checked out a CD of music by Lou Harrison. Several works >use and instrument called a tack piano. Does anybody know what this is? A >web search yielded several more references to Harrison as well as a few to >Frank Zappa, Tom Petty, and others--no explanations/pictures of the >instrument itself. What in the UK we call drawing pins but I believe are called "thumb tacks" in the USA are pushed into the hammers so that they hit the strings instead of the felts. This used to be a common feature of clapped-out pub pianos. I suppose it could be called a type of "prepared piano", if you wanted to be impressive. The resulting sound is probably better imagined than heard for most pianistic purposes, but it has its uses. Ian Crisp [log in to unmask]