Back in the 1960s, I became friendly with a family who had a house full
of antiques.  Among them was a lovely square grand.  I no longer have
any idea as to what maker, but it was a well recognized major name.

The scion of the family and I attended an antique show and came across
a beautiful little pump organ.  Although much smaller than the piano,
it had the same style rosewood case with a sort of ribbon molding
around the edge, etc.  It was not terribly expensive, so we purchased
it as a proposed Christmas gift for my friend's mother.  This prompted
me to suggest that the piano ought to be restored, as the organ was in
good working condition.

I called a friend who was a piano technician.  He came by and commented
that there was a trick to removing the keyboard.  There certainly was
-- he removed some screws and gave a tug on the keyboard, which was
supposed to just slide out like pulling out a drawer.

"Supposed to," but it didn't: it broke off every hammer and did all kinds
of damage to the action.  End of restoration.

I believe the end result was just one more beautiful looking rosewood
piano turned into a somewhat interesting writing desk.

Lee Munsick