Another piano anecdote: there is a piece (maybe by David Tudor, but I might have got that completely wrong??) in which the pianist is required to whip the piano very hard. The photographer Malcolm Crowthers, who may be known (by reputation at least!) to some readers, once told me that he'd been at a recital which included this piece, and had been so outraged by - as he saw it - this inexcusable treatment of a valuable instrument that, knowing the recital was to be repeated the following day, he had snuck back in after the concert and stolen the pianist's whip.

Malcolm still has said whip proudly displayed in his flat, along with several other objects with equally interesting histories. He told me that Elliott and Helen Carter once visited and Helen's first words on entering the flat, in her strong New York accent, were: 'Gee, where'd you get all this kitsch?'

Sweat causes copper to oxidize. It is indeed not a good thing. Have to replace the string before too long. To touch the strings, first briefly reach for some talcum powder or an absorbent cloth. If not, use a piano you don't care too much about.

Tippex, however (liquid paper, or correction fluid, or boo boo goo, or whatever you call it) is less harmful, all it takes is a tiny drop, which can be carefully brushed off when it is no longer needed.

Not all the strings have copper on 'em... but if the Steinway dude himself says so, maybe he just wants to sell more piano string? 

no, since it is strung like a piano (ie with higher pitches double and triple-strung), using piano strings at higher tension than those of a harp, and it's placed horizontally to make preparation and the use of items like E-Bows easier. A piano is by no means just a harp with a keyboard!

How about a harpsichord? That must be pretty close.

Thinks: maybe there's a clue in the name?

The thing that does the plucking on a harpsichord is something like a tiny and very hard plectrum whereas the harp player generally uses the flesh of the fingertips (usually not the little finger though)... classical guitarists use the fingernails except sometimes on period instruments.

And while the harp has seven available notes per octave the harpsichord generally indeed has twelve (sometimes fewer in the bass) - but sometimes even more (look up archicembalo for a particularly wacky variety).

Oddly enough English seems to be the only language which calls a harpsichord anything like a harpsichord... the Germans and Italians use cembalo or sometimes clavicembalo, the French clavecin, the other European languages similar words. Anyone know why? (I don't.)

The most common kind is the triple harp, which has three ranks of strings: the outer two are both tuned to F major (but only the one for the left hand runs right down to the bottom of the range), and the inner one fills in the missing pitches.