Tack Piano

In music, the tack piano (sometimes referred to as jangle piano, junk piano or honky-tonk piano) is a permanently altered version of an ordinary piano, in which tacks or nails are placed on the felt-padded hammers of the instrument at the point where the hammers hit the strings, giving the instrument a tinny, more percussive sound. See prepared piano.

Perhaps this preparation attempts to emulate the sound of a poorly maintained piano: as the felt hammers age and compact through use they become hard and cause the piano to yield a similar sound. A piano tuner will use a tool consisting of a number of fine pins to open and loosen the striking surface of the hammers, called voicing, a precision job calling for a good ear and lots of experience.

Another method of achieving that "percussive" sound without using real tacks is through the use of lacquered hammers in the piano, like a piano popularized by Mrs. Mills which resides at Abbey Road Studios.

Read more about Tack Piano:  Problems and Disadvantages

Famous quotes containing the words tack and/or piano:

    For hours, in fall days, I watched the ducks cunningly tack and veer and hold the middle of the pond, far from the sportsman;... but what beside safety they got by sailing in the middle of Walden I do not know, unless they love its water for the same reason that I do.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    There was an old, old house renewed with paint,
    And in it a piano loudly playing.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)