I can’t tell if the piano is in the same location as when I was last at O’hare, as there was no nearby carpeting when I was there last. However, there was a bar right next to the piano, and it may be the same bar. The two times I’ve been near that piano, it was cordoned off, so not inviting in any kind of way. And it is very exposed, so you’d have to be ok playing with the whole world walking by.
Piano at O’Hare??
I wonder if it has a player mechanism inside - there seems to be an electrical power cord dandling underneath, but it does not appear to be plugged in at the time of the photo.
I agree, I would not be comfortable playing in such an environment either.
kanadajin I wonder if it has a player mechanism inside - there seems to be an electrical power cord dandling underneath, but it does not appear to be plugged in at the time of the photo.
Good eye! Found another picture and you're right, looks like it has a player system installed:
Well, turns out I'll be at O'Hare tomorrow and next week. Will try to scout it out and report back.
kanadajin Yes, it definitely has a player system installed, although the 2 times I’ve walked by, it was unplugged.
Also, they change the advertising wraps with some regularity. I wonder if they wrap it on site, because I would imagine it would not be cost-effective to pay for moving the piano each time it got re-wrapped.
6 days later
I was at O'Hare earlier this week, but didn't see the piano (we were in Terminal 1, B Gates). Unfortunately, with the family there trying to get back and forth with luggage, there wasn't an opportunity to go scavenger hunting 
I was in Indianapolis the other day, and stopped by a department store (Von Maur?) and there was a piano with a pianist playing in the center of the store. He was playing cocktail style, very nice! And although the piano wasn’t very big, the music expanded throughout the store quite nicely.
I didn’t want to leave!
4 months later
Resurrecting an old thread for this very interesting YT video that just popped up:
Gombessa I’m also wondering if the glue gunk was really related to spilled alcoholic beverages. Every time I’ve been by, the piano has a different wrap, and I’m wondering if all the glue may instead be from the multiple wrapping procedures. Also those hammer grooves were pretty crazy! I wonder if someone’s actually been playing it or if they had the player system on a lot.
Sgisela I was wondering the same!
I think most common vinyl wraps are dry-applied. it's a film with a sticky backing that you peel and stick, and you don't need to "paint" on any glue. But there are a lot of exceptions, and some films use water and other liquids for a wet application (hopefully not on a piano!). That gummy goop all over the keys though, I have no idea what that is, or what kind of drinks would be that viscous after the alcohol and water evaporate. Is there a drink that's 2 cups of pure sugar mixed with a shot of Bacardi?
I remember there was discussion here about what kind of player system was installed, and I was glad to see in the video a closeup of the control module, showing it's a QRS. But the piano tech in the video doesn't seem to do much work with player/silent systems, and didn't talk about it at all. But you can see the plungers from the key solenoids sticking up from the back of the keybed cavity.
I think you're right that the piano must have a TON of player hours on it, at an airport I suspect they just had it self-play all day, every day until it stopped working!
The piano tuner in the video seems like a great guy. I've been watching his videos and he's a young guy trying really hard to build a new business around something he loves, and he share what he's learning, including how much he makes in typical day, etc. Really wishing him the best.
OMG!! That poor piano! Good call re the “glue” not being just from beverages… what an odd substance.
I don’t think I’ll be flying through O’Hare until March..l hope I can see it again, and hopefully it will still be ok!
One of my former piano tuners, the gentleman I worked with before moving here, was in charge of he prep when a “new” public piano was installed in the airport near where I used to live. That piano was not near any restaurants or bars. Hopefully it won’t take that same level of abuse!
Back to the O’Hare piano, I wonder if he got any special permission to work on it. A lot of times, keyboard covers have a lock, so at minimum, someone would have had to unlock it for him. But also, I wonder if you just started randomly tuning a public piano, if they would actually let you do that….
Anyway, thank you @Gombessa for posting this video!
Btw what kind of piano do you think that is? I don’t remember seeing a logo on th epilate, and there’s no shot of the fallboard (if memory serves).
- Edited
candela I’m quite skeptical the piano is that old. The finish is in rough shape, but it looks like a modern polished ebony finish, and my recollection of the logo on the fall board is that it was a newer font than that used on 1890s kimballs. It’s possible le that someone did a complete refinishing of the piano at some point, but I’m skeptical that someone would spend the time/effort to do any kind of restoration work on an old Kimball. I’m not trying to put shade on the brand, but they were never high end of the market pianos.
+1. A Kimball K1 is 5'1" according to old Piano Blue Book links. And this one has a more modern logo, used around the 1990s.
I did some googling and didn't find any Kimballs with the triangular/trapezoidal "sound holes" in the plate, which makes me wonder if this is actually a real, US-made Kimball from when they were still producing pianos up until 1996. Perhaps it's one of the dozens of brands where the name was sold to an Asian piano maker and re-imported in the 2000s?
Gombessa I had this same thought, although of all things one might decide to ‘stencil’ on a fall board, I’m not sure how much affection there is for Kimball.
I don’t really want to cast shade on Kimball. They made lots and lots of pianos, and my grandmother, who was a much better pianist than I am, inherited one and it was the piano she played for most of her life. I have very warm memories of her playing the piano. But I know it had all sorts of issues.