For more on The George Nelson Bench Project, go here.
Note: Piano not included.
I'll admit now that I have a thing for the usage of something that's not a piano bench as a piano bench. Because frankly, standard piano benches are just plain ugly. They usually come in two flavors: Flavor One is a wooden topped thing (with or without a hinged top) with tapered legs. Flavor Two is a cushion topped thing that's just a bulbous piece of nonsense. Since flavor two usually has some sort of height adjustment dealie built in, the bulbousness of the cushioned top makes it just too bulbous to look at. Bulbous. That's a great word.
Example of a bulbous bulbousity:
My sister's piano didn't come with a bench either. She went to Cost Plus and picked up a cool looking piece with flared legs and an undulating rattan top. Now, that's a piano bench with some chutzpah!
And now here's my contribution to the family of piano benches that don't look like standard piano benches: The Nelson Piano Bench.
The first iteration of The Nelson Piano Bench (Project Alpha) wasn't exactly a Nelson because of the glued up end pieces and the absence of the teeth with the notches. This bench does have the teeth and the notches and even has the requisite center toothed piece.
The legs aren't angled 'cause I was concerned about stability. Some piano players (myself included) get way too animated and physically involved with their playing that a back and forth swaying motion might be detrimental to the player's uprightness if the angled legs were present. Therefore, I kept the legs straight. The dadoes within which the legs rest were cut on all the slats including the outer ones. This was a little thing I wanted to try to see if it looked cool that the leg ends were visible. I think they're cool.
Here are the dimensions:
Length: 30"
Width: 14"
Height: 18 3/4"
The length of 30" is more in line with a typical piano bench length. Project Alpha was much shorter. The height is just a tad lower than Project Alpha because as I mentioned in the Project Alpha description, it felt a little high. A quarter of an inch lower feels just right.
Ash top, with poplar legs. Yeah, I know, the legs are poplar. I ran out of ash for the legs so I had to resort to whatever else was on hand. Hence the poplar. What little pieces of ash I had left went to Project Delta.
Price: $150 Sold!
Although this piece has sold (yippee!), one can be custom-crafted for you if this style of piece is what you're interested in. Any size or any wood species-- it's up to you. Email me with your ideas and I'll SketchItUp for you and give you a price estimate.
To arrange purchase, send an email to craigwoodworks at gmail dot com
I'll admit now that I have a thing for the usage of something that's not a piano bench as a piano bench. Because frankly, standard piano benches are just plain ugly. They usually come in two flavors: Flavor One is a wooden topped thing (with or without a hinged top) with tapered legs. Flavor Two is a cushion topped thing that's just a bulbous piece of nonsense. Since flavor two usually has some sort of height adjustment dealie built in, the bulbousness of the cushioned top makes it just too bulbous to look at. Bulbous. That's a great word.
Example of a bulbous bulbousity:
Please note: I absolutely did not make the bench pictured above. I don't believe I would want to make the bench pictured above. I don't believe I would want to sit on the bench pictured above. I don't believe I would subject my piano to being accompanied by the bench pictured above. Sure my piano is an old rickety thing, but it does have some sense of decency and style left in her.
My sister's piano didn't come with a bench either. She went to Cost Plus and picked up a cool looking piece with flared legs and an undulating rattan top. Now, that's a piano bench with some chutzpah!
And now here's my contribution to the family of piano benches that don't look like standard piano benches: The Nelson Piano Bench.
The first iteration of The Nelson Piano Bench (Project Alpha) wasn't exactly a Nelson because of the glued up end pieces and the absence of the teeth with the notches. This bench does have the teeth and the notches and even has the requisite center toothed piece.
The legs aren't angled 'cause I was concerned about stability. Some piano players (myself included) get way too animated and physically involved with their playing that a back and forth swaying motion might be detrimental to the player's uprightness if the angled legs were present. Therefore, I kept the legs straight. The dadoes within which the legs rest were cut on all the slats including the outer ones. This was a little thing I wanted to try to see if it looked cool that the leg ends were visible. I think they're cool.
Here are the dimensions:
Length: 30"
Width: 14"
Height: 18 3/4"
The length of 30" is more in line with a typical piano bench length. Project Alpha was much shorter. The height is just a tad lower than Project Alpha because as I mentioned in the Project Alpha description, it felt a little high. A quarter of an inch lower feels just right.
Ash top, with poplar legs. Yeah, I know, the legs are poplar. I ran out of ash for the legs so I had to resort to whatever else was on hand. Hence the poplar. What little pieces of ash I had left went to Project Delta.
Although this piece has sold (yippee!), one can be custom-crafted for you if this style of piece is what you're interested in. Any size or any wood species-- it's up to you. Email me with your ideas and I'll SketchItUp for you and give you a price estimate.
To arrange purchase, send an email to craigwoodworks at gmail dot com
No comments:
Post a Comment