This simple completely changes the sound of the piano; makes it sound like Mrs Mills Piano.
This piano hack shows how a small upright piano can be made to produce ragtime/honky tonk/tack piano sound by adding a pedal (piano tuners call it the “mandolin rail”); it’s a pretty simple modification that gives a really unique sound to the instrument.
Here’s the video that shows the piano hack.
“The Beatles used a similar tinny sounding piano called the Mrs. Mills piano. The “Mrs. Mills” sound was due to use of lacquered hammers, which is a pretty permanent (and destructive) way to achieve a similar result. This pedal modification allows you to get the honky tonk sound on the fly. This is really just a prototype, I’d like to make the entire mechanism out of a steel bar so that it’s more permanent, but even as it is, it works perfectly. I really like that you can lower the pedal slowly and stop incrementally to dial in the brightness of the sound. Adding the notch for the pedal to lock in is really useful so that both feet are free to operate the other two pedals,” as mentioned on this youtube video.
Read more on Mrs Mills Honky Tonk Piano here.
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