I am an Italian American man, born in Brooklyn, NY. When I was a yr old my family moved to Scotch Plains, NJ. All my fathers brothers and sisters, (9), moved there to be by my grandmother. Needless to say, it was a large family. We used to go to my Aunt Anna's house quite a bit because my grandmother lived with her. She had a piano and played by ear. At 3 yrs old, while all my cousins were playing in the finished basement, I was sitting at the piano, trying to figure out songs I heard on the record player or radio. You would think I would get piano lessons??? I ended up getting guitar lessons but always wanted to play the piano. At 24 I bought my own piano and started taking lessons. I purchased it in 1974 from Otto Altenburgs Piano House in Elizabeth NJ. It is made by Everett. I started taking piano lessons and was practicing a minimum of 7 hrs a day. Advanced myself 2 yrs on the piano in 6 mos. I moved into my own apartment and Marc Shaiman used to come over and play for hours. He wanted the piano. In 1997, I moved to NYC. My scheduled changed drastically and practicing fell by the wayside. I am now 74 yrs old and taking piano lessons again. I've also delved into tuning and repairing this piano. I would love to go to school for this, there are not many in NYC. "This piano has quite a history. In 1997, I moved to NYC. My scheduled changed drastically and practicing fell by the wayside. In April of 1981, we had a fire in the apartment. The piano got wet with a little smoke damage. Other than that not much else. I wheeled it on a dolly down Colombus Ave, with two friends, into my new apartment. I took it apart, dried it out with heat lamps. Cleaned the cabinet, put it back together and had it tuned. Needless to say, it sat there for 18yrs until I moved to Florida. I gave it to my friend, Tanya, for her children. About 10 yrs later, Tanya called and told me she had to take care of her brothers Steinway and that a friend of hers, in her building was going to take care of my piano. Years later, she called and asked if I wanted my piano back, he couldn't take care of it anymore. I couldn't take it because I hadn't moved back to NY yet. I called my cousin, who picked it up and brought it to his friends recording studio in Brooklyn. After 14yrs, he asked if I wanted it back, they had purchased a baby grand. The owner of the studio said every piano player that recorded with it wanted to take it home. A client of mine suggested we pick it up and bring it to his parents apartment until I had my own place. When we got there and I saw my piano, my heart sank. It looked like it had been in a kindergarten for 30 yrs. It was scratched, names gouged in the top and sticky. We took it anyway. Got back to the city and had to take it down 30 metal steps. It flipped on its back and fell down step by step. I was ready to just set it on fire but there is a strong emotional connection! We took it upstairs, put the legs on it, and it was just slightly out of tune. I took it apart, refinished it and now its in my new apartment. I've learned how to tune pianos and done some minor repairs, I regulated it to the best of my ability, redid the hammers, by sanding, repaired a couple of bobbling keys but it really needs a professional to refurbish it. I would love for this piano to be a close to as it was when I first had it delivered. I remember when it was first delivered, telling the tuner after he tuned it that it sounded like a honkey tonk piano, so he huffed and voiced it. LOL! It sounded Amazing after he finished.. Needless to say, this piano has been through a lot and for some reason kept trying to come back to me. It's a very emotional experience having this back in my home. I would love to have this piano restored so I can continue to take lessons and then pass it on to my Great Niece Angelina who is now taking piano lessons. I've attached a video of my piano teacher. It doesn't sound as tinny as it does in the video. It still has a rich sound. There's really not much else to tell.
Sincerely
Paul Greco
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YEAR 1970-1980
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MAKE Everett
- SERIAL NUMBER 411358
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FINISH Walnut
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CATEGORY CONTESTANT
