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
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