All about the Swallow piano

What pleasant sounds the piano makes, what melodic music can be played on this instrument and how many people prefer to learn how to play it. Does anyone think about the weight and dimensions of the piano? But this is an important point, since the instrument becomes part of the furniture in the house, it has to be rearranged, transported when moving and adjusted. Let's tell you more about the characteristics of the Swallow piano, its manufacturer and tuning methods.

The manufacturer of "Lastochka" was the Penza factory, which is also known for the fact that it also produced guitars. The history of this enterprise for the manufacture of musical instruments began on the basis of furniture production, when in 1952 a workshop for assembling pianos from imported components was opened in Penza.

After 7 years, the workshop grew into an independent piano manufacturing factory under the regional management of industry. The factory produced up to 12 thousand pianos per year.

In the 1980 Olympic year, the Penza factory took part in an international exhibition, which was held in the capital of Italy, after which the French, Japanese, and Chinese began to order Soviet pianos from this enterprise.

They also became popular in Greece, England, Turkey and other countries. By 2000, more than 6 million copies of this type of keyboard instrument had been produced. Many people still have the "Swallow" piano of the Penza piano factory.

The Lastochka weighs 240 kg and is not the heaviest piano. Everything that was produced in the USSR had GOST, and musical instruments were no exception. AND despite the fact that they were produced in different cities and even in different union republics, the general conditions of GOST were observed.

Differences could be in appearance: whoever had different legs, some elements could be made of "ivory". Hence the different weight category - from 90 to 370 kg. The same applied to the overall dimensions, the external dimensions of the Swallow piano are 1445x1200x596.

The 7-octave keyboard row consists of an improved design. The Lastochka body is finished with colored wood, polished in a natural color.

The Swallow piano needs to be tuned periodically. The fact is that in this tool there is a space between the rear plywood wall and the body itself with a distance of about 10 centimeters. There depending on the circumstances, various debris may fall (sometimes even children's toys are found), which will interfere with the game.

It often happens that the strings rattle due to the fact that there is no snug fit of the damper, or it works in the opposite way: it does not move away from the strings. Here you can deal with the problem purely mechanically by pressing or releasing the dampers.

But in more complex cases, it is better to call the wizard-customizer. If you decide to do it yourself, then you should not rush. To get started, get the necessary tools, study how experts do it (fortunately, the Internet makes this possible).

In order not to tune every note, all octaves on the piano can be matched to their sound using the electronic tuner.