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On Saturday, January 16, many of us enjoyed an amazing concert in Bridge Hall to raise funds to renovate the piano to its original glory.  Renowned musicians Steve and Beth Wood, Bob Hawkins, and famed guitarist Eric Henderson performed original works as well as familiar favorites.  We sang and danced, laughed and sighed, and listened in hushed amazement to quieter moments of magic.   We also contributed and raised more than $4000 for the piano restoration fund.  The generous donation of time and talent of the four musicians, the gift of wine and a bartender donated by Sande St. John, and the blessing of time from many church volunteers made this amazing night possible!

For years the piano sat quietly in a corner of Bridge Hall at the Neighborhood Congregational Church, more adornment than instrument.  But last spring composer and musician Steve Wood sat down before the old piano to practice before performing at a service that day in the sanctuary next door.  “I lifted the lid and saw the name Mason & Hamlin,” Wood recalled. “I was excited,” realizing that he had discovered “a battered diamond.”

The 103-year-old piano, a Mason & Hamlin Model A Grand, is considered to be the world’s best grand piano under six feet. “It’s a really great American piano on a par with a Steinway,” Wood said.  The timing of Wood’s’ discovery was fortuitous as the church has been raising money to purchase a new piano. But once the veil of obscurity had been lifted, efforts have been redirected to instead restore the vintage Mason & Hamlin.

By spending the same amount of money it would cost to purchase a new piano, the 1907 Mason & Hamlin can be refurbished, resulting in a far more valuable and superior instrument.   “You can go and spend money on a new Yamaha and for $16,000 you can find a decent 6ft and it will definitely be a Honda,” Wood said. “And I drive a Honda and I love it but it’s just what it is…same all the time, dependable but not really great.”

In contrast, the century old Mason & Hamlin “was built by master craftsmen,” Wood said. “The variation in tone is much deeper. It can go from a whisper to a shout, not utilizing volume, but tone. A hundred years from now, a 100-year-old Yamaha is not going to elicit the same feeling as coming across a 100-year-old Mason & Hamlin. And how often do you stumble across something that’s 100 years old that can be as good as good as new?” Wood asked. “Everyone over 40 likes that.”

Just how the piano ended up at the church is a mystery.  June Budd, along with her husband, Sonny, have been going to the Neighborhood Congregational Church for 51 years. “It was given before we got there,” she said. “Who gave it and why it wasn’t recorded is beyond me. Anyone with knowledge is probably dead now,” but Budd, along with many others, are hopeful that someone in the community might know with whom the piano spent its first 50 years.

A team of experts is now poised to restore the centurion once the funds are raised.   This week, the piano begins its travels.  First it will go to Emil Grakov, an Austrian who has been restoring pianos for 24 years. After replacing more than 5,000 parts involved in the instrument’s action, “it will have a new life,” said Grakov, who has rebuilt at least 12 grand pianos similar to the Mason & Hamlin.

Next it will be placed in the hands of piano technician and tuner, Bob Anderson.  “Structurally we get the piano back in good shape and then it’s my turn to bring it out,” said Anderson who has tuned pianos for the likes of Ray Charles, Paul McCartney, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand and Stevie Wonder, before they went out on stage.   “It’s about the sound and touch and you listen to it, feel it,” Anderson said. “You can get an idea of what an instrument’s potential is and I think the piano still has good heart and good life in it.”

We anticipate a full celebration of new life when our new piano arrives in time for Easter Sunday on April 4!