Kwibuka24

Today, we remember the victims of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Their memory lingers like the last note before silence. 

It has been 24 years since the atrocity occurred. You can find out more on Twitter through #Kwibuka24, and there is a list of suggested reading here.

Mammoth Catch-up

Lirika's Action

We've been a bit quiet of late, but not inactive. We were called to help fix a 1953 Yamaha upright the other week. Imported from Nagasaki years ago. It was last tuned in 2011, but has held its tuning well. The main problem was a loose flange pin, which meant that one key didn't play, its hammer striking the side of the frame instead of the strings. We popped the pin back in and tightened it up, but ideally it needs a larger pin to replace it, otherwise it's likely to come loose again. There were also a few hammers that weren't falling back fully. Our friend Howard at Howard Piano Industries suggested it might be the opposite problem - the flange is too tight. Everything else looks in good form, so we'll try easing them and see what happens.

Then it was on to tune one of our regulars, the Korean church in Kinyinya. They have a Young Chang. Marion has replaced several of the base strings in the past, but broke a treble string last time she was tuning. Now we've got a plentiful supply of wire, she went to replace it... and broke five more!

This has never happened with any other piano. On close inspection, there was a small amount of rusting, but not enough to cause this level of snappage. One of their pianists kept breaking bass strings, which have no signs of wear, so the conclusion is - weak strings? Marion took a guess at the replacement size for the treble as she didn't have a micrometre, but the wire kept breaking, so she changed up a size and it held. A tough way to learn, though. The tuning would only have taken a couple of hours, but ended up being double that. Still, it was good practise for when we come to string our own piano - all 220 tuning pins.

 

Yesterday we took the original Lirika action over to Chillington, the place that makes our string frames. Starting to suspect we might need some help with this. Désiré can only devote one day a week to the project and the action requires a large number of small wooden pieces. Things like springs and bridle straps are easily bought online, but the rest - including the metal frame - we need to make here. They've suggested a couple of places with CC cutters, which should be able to cut pieces to size with extreme accuracy multiple times.

Then we dropped back via the Korean church to examine the pins on the bridge, which Dés is working on at the moment. The spacing between pins is very important, and they have to be extremely strong to hold the pressure of the strings as they tighten.

We're very grateful to Father Hong for his patience in allowing us to take his piano apart and poke around. It's useful having such a similar piano nearby so that we can check our progress now that Lirika is in pieces. Like Lirika, their bass ends on D3#, and the frame is fairly similar, which makes it a good reference point.

Finally, we headed over to Gakinjiro, which is an area of Kigali with a sprawling wood and metal market. We went to look for frame bolts, which are big, thick screws that hold the string frame in place. This is an original. We couldn't find anything exactly the same, but we found something similar, so we're going to give that a go.

We also passed by The Woodworker's Friend, which is a shop selling carpentry equipment. Désiré needs a precision cutter for the keys as the jigsaw we have isn't nimble enough to do a quality job. We also need a sander. Unfortunately, the shop was close, but we're hoping to price everything up soon. We're also extremely grateful to Jim Kelly at  Fur Elise Piano Service in South Carolina. He's been incredibly generous with his time and knowledge, providing information on lots of technical issues and resources.

Gakinjiro (not our flash car, unfortunately).

So, it's taking a bit longer than planned, but the frame is getting secured soon, and the tuning pins are going in, ready for stringing.

We're calling in on Alex to make a couple more bits to fit the pins exactly. The pins will go in using a drill and standard hammer, but Dés and his team need tuning hammers to wind them back out again. We have two sizes of tuning pins: one is the same size as the original Lirika, for the new piano, and the second is a fraction larger, to put Lirika back together again. By having the bits made to measure, it helps prevent the tuning hammer from shaving the tuning pins, keeping them nice and square. Here's one he made for Marion.

 

We might not be able to do this next week as memorial week begins tomorrow for the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. April is traditionally a quiet time in Rwanda, when people remember those they lost. 

African Union Trade Agreement

Something very exciting has been happening in Kigali this week.

Leaders from across Africa were here for a special meeting of the African Union.

It caused a few traffic jams as major roads were closed to all but delegates.

But, on the upside, an extremely interesting deal was being struck, which could be an absolute game changer for businesses such as ours.

The idea is to create an AU trade bloc, much like the EU.

Import and export weren't specifically mentioned in the articles, but the principle of the EU is:

Goods that have been produced in the European Union (EU), or that have been imported into an EU country with duty paid, are 'in free circulation' within the EU. Customs duty is not payable on acquisitions (imports or purchases) of goods that are in free circulation. - website

That would be absolutely incredible if the AU followed suit. For example, we saw a beautiful old grand piano in Congo, but getting it to Kigali could cost a bit in import duty. If the whole of Africa scrapped trade borders, we could pop it on the back of a truck and bring it here to refurbish.  

It would also mean that any pianos we do produce would be cheaper for people in neighbouring countries like Uganda and Tanzania to purchase, because it would only require the cost of transport. It would make it easier to hop over and tune a piano or two, too. 

There's a whole world of possibility here.

Ten countries currently need convincing, including Nigeria, which has the biggest economy on the continent, and it hasn't been ratified yet, but we're really hoping this goes through. It would be a major boost to business.

Leaving Indiegogo

Hi everyone.

Really shocked to be making this post. After our article came out, we received a further £60 in donations through Indiegogo. This is because we chose 'in demand', which keeps the campaign open so long as we receive at least one donation within a six-month period.

We were overjoyed that more people were interested in supporting the project and had donated their hard-earned money to back us.

Then we got an e-mail from Indiegogo explaining the financial breakdown of our donations. Out of £60, we would only receive £29 - less than 50% of the money raised:

We couldn't believe it when we saw it. They also took around £500 from the original £6,000 we raised, but we covered that ourselves because we didn't want our supporters' money going into the black hole of Indiegogo and bank fees.

We've just written to them urgently requesting the closure of the in demand option, and they responded with a highly inapropriate automated message:

Thank you for contacting Indiegogo's Customer Happiness team! 

This is a family blog, so we won't repeat what went through our heads.

We haven't got a good word to say about our Indiegogo experience and would ask anyone else who wishes to donate in the future to do so directly through PayPal, as the fees are minimal in comparison and the money comes direct to us without any third party skimming.  Sorry for this disappointing news. We will make up the difference ourselves as it's absolutely not fair to the people who have supported us.

Actual IGIHE Interview

Our IGIHE interview came out today, so our Kinyarwanda followers can read the whole thing here.

It's a big deal as IGIHE are a massive news outlet in Rwanda. Our neighbour just texted to say 'well done!' having seen the article.

It was an extremely hot day, just before a major downpour. That's why we also title this piece: Mzungu Having a Meltdown. It's the rainy season at the moment, so basically this:

Désiré is the master of cool composure in front of a camera. We thought this was going to be a written interview at first, then they turned up with a camera and lamps. We're extremely grateful they cut out Marion's 'uuuh, umm...' which formed 90% of the interview, and managed to salvage a few decent soundbites. It's agreed that Désiré should do the talking from now on (he speaks Kinyarwanda, English, French, Lingala and possibly Klingon).

We're throwing out an appeal to our Kinya followers for an English transcript. Keep checking this post. If we get it, we'll add a link.

We're very grateful to IGIHE for the support.

No pressure then, guess we'd better get on with building that piano...

IGIHE Interview

We had a fun day yesterday with Emmanuel from IGIHE, a Kinyarwanda-language news outlet here in Rwanda. They came to interview Désiré and Marion about the piano-building project. It was an extremely hot day, so we sweated our way through it and showed off our piano in progress alongside the Lirika. 

  

Lirika's original frame is looking a bit battered and bruised now, but we're ploughing forward. Désiré is currently making the bridges before mounting the frame onto the new piano and putting in the tuning pins, ready for stringing. 

Bridges on Original Lirika
These help to keep the strings in place.

We'll post a link once the IGIHE interview goes live, and try to get an English transcript alongside it.

Ryan Arcand

A sad farewell to Ryan Arcand, a homeless Canadian man who had a soul-deep affinity with the piano. 

READ MORE ABOUT HIM