The key to George Klassensa国际传媒檚 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 Klassensa国际传媒檚 Fleetwood-area home.
It might be the only canoe of its kind in the world.
sa国际传媒淚 havensa国际传媒檛 come across anything like this,sa国际传媒� Klassen noted. sa国际传媒淎s far as I know, this is the only one on the globe made of pianos, but I might be wrong.sa国际传媒�
A longtime piano tuner, he found inspiration in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, in spring 2020.
sa国际传媒淣one of us knew what to do with our time, right?sa国际传媒� Klassen said. sa国际传媒淚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, sa国际传媒楽omeday Isa国际传媒檓 going to have more time, you know, to do something. So itsa国际传媒檇 be nice to experiment.sa国际传媒檚a国际传媒�
(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.
sa国际传媒� 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.
sa国际传媒淚 know that every day, there are these old, brown upright pianos that are just going to the dump, one after the other sa国际传媒� you cansa国际传媒檛 even give them away,sa国际传媒� Klassen said.
sa国际传媒淚 thought, sa国际传媒業 wonder if somebody milled some of these old pianos into strips and turned them into a canoe.sa国际传媒� Thatsa国际传媒檚 what started the whole process.sa国际传媒�
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.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 really beautiful wood,sa国际传媒� Klassen noted, sa国际传媒渂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 sa国际传媒� about 10 pounds heavier than a cedar-strip one.sa国际传媒�
Klassen is justifiably proud of his canoesa国际传媒檚 details.
sa国际传媒淭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,sa国际传媒� he explained.
sa国际传媒淚n the pictures, yousa国际传媒檒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. Theresa国际传媒檚 three key tops. I inlayed those on either end, and those are actual ivory piano keys.
sa国际传媒淭he handle to carry the canoe, on each end, those are the handles that were on the back of the pianos, two of them,sa国际传媒� Klassen added.
sa国际传媒淎nd the yoke in the middle, the piece used to carry the canoe, itsa国际传媒檚 a back post from a piano, shaved down and formed into a yoke.sa国际传媒�
Joan Clark, co-owner of , on King George Boulevard in Surrey, first alerted the Now-Leader about Klassensa国际传媒檚 canoe project.
sa国际传媒淗e tunes the pianos here,sa国际传媒� Clark explained. sa国际传媒�(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.sa国际传媒�
Clark said old upright pianos have become a huge problem.
sa国际传媒淲e get lots of calls, but we donsa国际传媒檛 take them in and you cansa国际传媒檛 sell them. People are going to smaller acoustic pianos, or digitals,sa国际传媒� Clark explained. sa国际传媒淎 lot of them are beautiful pianos and functional, but people just donsa国际传媒檛 have room for them in their houses anymore, or their apartments.
sa国际传媒淲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 cansa国际传媒檛 recycle them because they have a metal frame.sa国际传媒�
Klassen has been tuning pianos for close to 40 years, and business is still good for his .
sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檝e got a lot of work, actually,sa国际传媒� he related. sa国际传媒淚 do quite a few recording studios. My most active customer is downtown. Isa国际传媒檝e tuned that piano around 150 times now. Itsa国际传媒檚 been played by a lot of people over the years.sa国际传媒�
Now that his canoe is fully varnished, Klassen plans to put it in the water soon.
sa国际传媒淚 just finished it on Sunday (Sept. 12),sa国际传媒� he noted. sa国际传媒淚 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.
sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檇 like to make it a family affair,sa国际传媒� Klassen said of Middle Seasa国际传媒檚 maiden voyage, to involve his wife, Cathy, adult children, their spouses and grandchildren. sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檒l take it somewhere, maybe Alouette Lake or something, and see if it floats sa国际传媒� in the next couple of weeks, I imagine.sa国际传媒�
Klassen added: sa国际传媒淐athy deserves a medal for putting up with the dust and noise I made, and also for making some crucial design suggestions.sa国际传媒�
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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