Tack Piano
The phrase prepared piano is also sometimes applied to other kinds of preparations. The tack piano is a piano that has been altered by inserting thumbtacks or small nails into the striking end of each hammer, so that the instrument will produce a more percussive sound and brighter timbre. The resulting tone often resembles the sound of a very old and derelict piano. The tack piano has been used primarily in honky-tonk-style piano playing, or to make a piano sound like an antique piano that might have been heard in a saloon or brothel around the early 20th century. The application of tacks is generally discouraged by piano technicians as the tacks can drop off the hammers and lodge in the strings or jam the mechanism, or the fact that placing tacks inside felt hammers renders the felt unvoicable and, therefore, ruins the hammers. On normal pianos, felt coverings on the hammers will harden and compress with use (though not usually for at least several decades, unless it is a heavily used concert piano), yielding a characteristic bright, tinny sound. This can be cured by softening the hammers with a device consisting of multiple needles called a "voicing needle". Where the felt is too far gone, the hammers can be replaced.
Read more about this topic: Prepared Piano, History
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