I had reluctantly tossed two wooden piano benches into the garage of my apartment complex due to creaks, squeaks, and shaky legs that drove me up the walls during recording sessions. To add insult to injury, my next door neighbor’s cleaning lady, dumped a week’s worth of wine and beer bottles into the trash as I approached the final cadence of my Little Bach Prelude. It was re-take after re-take with no relief in sight.
While I couldn’t control the rhythmic flow of waste disposal among tenants, I was confident that I could eradicate piano bench noises by landing a nifty Stagg PBH 780 BKP VBK Hydraulic Piano Bench on Amazon. Advertised for $179, it looked streamlined and self-contained, with cute little handles tucked under its seat that could provide sweet little joy rides up and down. I would take pleasure in adjusting the contraption to suit my height at the piano without needing stacks of books and pillows. It was going to be Easy Rider all the way!
So without skipping a beat, I ordered the handsome studio accouterment, thinking its strong but compact body would steer me effortlessly through myriads of phrases to final cadence without a hitch.
But fate dashed my hopes. After Stagg’s arrival, and its handy assembly by Arrion, an experienced piano mover and hydraulics expert, the clicks, creaks and squeaks swelled to crescendo levels. Sitting on Stagg, moving to and fro, I simulated advances toward the piano, acquiring a percussion section that rose to solo proportion!
In despair, I was on the verge of reclaiming my wooden stored fossils though I quickly remembered that I’d ordered a $45 On Stage KT7800 Plus Padded Keyboard Bench that was about to arrive by UPS ground. (I must have had a sixth sense that Stagg would disappoint me in the crunch)
KT7800 Plus Padded, arrived with a whimper. Easy to assemble and silent as a lamb, it fit snugly under my overhead webcam. And when I tested its resilience at the keyboard, it silently contoured to my body, and flowed in synch with my register-to-register movements.
As the final cap to this saga, I gave FIVE glittering stars to KT7800, and only TWO to Stagg at Amazon, knowing full well that it was an act of charity to add a star for Stagg’s redeeming furniture value.
That said, in the long-term, Stagg hydraulic will have a place in my bedroom as a joy-riding computer chair to keep me productively awake into the wee hours of the morning!
Wanna ride?
