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