Whilst you play the piano faux

Dummy Grands as used by Procol Harum

What was it … a Steinway, a Bluthner, or a Bosendorfer? Not until he told us he had accidentally pressed the 'transpose' button did everybody become aware that he was using a dummy case with a 'stage' piano (what GB has called 'a knitting machine') shoved inside it … as previously seen also on the 1992 European tour

Certainly a piano of this sort looks good with an orchestra, while obviating the difficulties of miking (and transporting!) a genuine grand. And in the Union Chapel DVD, for instance, the dummy shell simplifies what the camera shows: yet inside it is all the usual Brooker piano set-up of that time: Roland RD700 piano and Kurzweil module through his little Radio Shack four-into-two mixer, plugged straight into a couple of DI boxes. No trailing cables, no microphones, no feedback!

If you care to visit this page you may see where such 'faux' pianos come from: some pictures, below, are lifted with permission.

Barry Sinclair, who manufactures these and many other extraordinary items, is of course the same person who provided a great deal of the Tour Information as recently featured, to some acclaim, at BtP.

'As it happens I used to go to school with Gary …' he declares …

The BtP team got to know Barry ('Sinkers' to the Commander) when he tour-managed Procol Harum's West Coast foray in July / August 2003.

More features at BtP