The key to George KlassenB次元官网网址檚 pandemic project was to create something new and beautiful from unwanted upright pianos.
The Surrey resident made a music-themed canoe from the wood of instruments that would otherwise be thrown in the garbage.
Three old pianos were recycled to create Middle Sea over the past 15 months, in the garage of KlassenB次元官网网址檚 Fleetwood-area home.
It might be the only canoe of its kind in the world.
B次元官网网址淚 havenB次元官网网址檛 come across anything like this,B次元官网网址� Klassen noted. B次元官网网址淎s far as I know, this is the only one on the globe made of pianos, but I might be wrong.B次元官网网址�
A longtime piano tuner, he found inspiration in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, in spring 2020.
B次元官网网址淣one of us knew what to do with our time, right?B次元官网网址� Klassen said. B次元官网网址淚t all felt kind of surreal and it was a bit of a wake-up call for me. I was 64 or 65 years old at the time, and I thought, B次元官网网址楽omeday IB次元官网网址檓 going to have more time, you know, to do something. So itB次元官网网址檇 be nice to experiment.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�
(Story continues below)
More photos of "Middle Sea," the cleverly named canoe, made of old piano wood by Surrey's George Klassen as a pandemic project.
B次元官网网址� Tom Zillich (@TomZillich)
It sure is a beauty!
STORY:
Browsing around Facebook Marketplace, he clicked on photos of cedar-strip canoes for sale, and was reminded of a fibreglass model he built back in high school, in Killarney, Man.
B次元官网网址淚 know that every day, there are these old, brown upright pianos that are just going to the dump, one after the other B次元官网网址� you canB次元官网网址檛 even give them away,B次元官网网址� Klassen said.
B次元官网网址淚 thought, B次元官网网址業 wonder if somebody milled some of these old pianos into strips and turned them into a canoe.B次元官网网址� ThatB次元官网网址檚 what started the whole process.B次元官网网址�
So he collected some old pianos and began making a canoe, which turned out to be a work of art.
Using a tablesaw and thickness planer, he discovered plenty of solid oak in those old pianos.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 really beautiful wood,B次元官网网址� Klassen noted, B次元官网网址渂ut the unconventional part of it is, of course cedar-strip canoes are made of cedar, a softer and lighter wood. So people ask me how heavy mine is, but it turns out the canoe weighs about 60 pounds, not bad B次元官网网址� about 10 pounds heavier than a cedar-strip one.B次元官网网址�
Klassen is justifiably proud of his canoeB次元官网网址檚 details.
B次元官网网址淭he edge of the canoe, the outer , is made of soundboard ribs from a piano, finger-jointed together to make a continuous strip on the outside,B次元官网网址� he explained.
B次元官网网址淚n the pictures, youB次元官网网址檒l see slits on the side. The solid parts of that gunwale are actual key sharps, the black keys on the piano. I shaved them down and made them all uniform. ThereB次元官网网址檚 three key tops. I inlayed those on either end, and those are actual ivory piano keys.
B次元官网网址淭he handle to carry the canoe, on each end, those are the handles that were on the back of the pianos, two of them,B次元官网网址� Klassen added.
B次元官网网址淎nd the yoke in the middle, the piece used to carry the canoe, itB次元官网网址檚 a back post from a piano, shaved down and formed into a yoke.B次元官网网址�
Joan Clark, co-owner of , on King George Boulevard in Surrey, first alerted the Now-Leader about KlassenB次元官网网址檚 canoe project.
B次元官网网址淗e tunes the pianos here,B次元官网网址� Clark explained. B次元官网网址�(Klassen) hated seeing these old pianos going to the dump, and this is a pretty ingenious use of them. I just think it is incredible what he has done.B次元官网网址�
Clark said old upright pianos have become a huge problem.
B次元官网网址淲e get lots of calls, but we donB次元官网网址檛 take them in and you canB次元官网网址檛 sell them. People are going to smaller acoustic pianos, or digitals,B次元官网网址� Clark explained. B次元官网网址淎 lot of them are beautiful pianos and functional, but people just donB次元官网网址檛 have room for them in their houses anymore, or their apartments.
B次元官网网址淲e tell people to put them on Craigslist for free, but they end up hiring people or just take them to the dump on their own. You canB次元官网网址檛 recycle them because they have a metal frame.B次元官网网址�
Klassen has been tuning pianos for close to 40 years, and business is still good for his .
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e got a lot of work, actually,B次元官网网址� he related. B次元官网网址淚 do quite a few recording studios. My most active customer is downtown. IB次元官网网址檝e tuned that piano around 150 times now. ItB次元官网网址檚 been played by a lot of people over the years.B次元官网网址�
Now that his canoe is fully varnished, Klassen plans to put it in the water soon.
B次元官网网址淚 just finished it on Sunday (Sept. 12),B次元官网网址� he noted. B次元官网网址淚 could have made paddles, and someday I probably will, but I just want to get it into the water now, so I bought a couple of paddles from Canadian tire.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檇 like to make it a family affair,B次元官网网址� Klassen said of Middle SeaB次元官网网址檚 maiden voyage, to involve his wife, Cathy, adult children, their spouses and grandchildren. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檒l take it somewhere, maybe Alouette Lake or something, and see if it floats B次元官网网址� in the next couple of weeks, I imagine.B次元官网网址�
Klassen added: B次元官网网址淐athy deserves a medal for putting up with the dust and noise I made, and also for making some crucial design suggestions.B次元官网网址�
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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