#deathclawmaestro

The Deathclaw snarled, then began to prowl around the perimeter of the now empty settlement. Lexington shrugged and went to scavenge for parts, letting the odd encounter slip from his mind.

Preview: "It wasn't as if he planned on falling for her. He had told himself before that he couldn't make the same mistake of forming attachments. He hadn't planned onnseeing her tears, though, or her smile."

"Basic facts about piano backs: 'a super or extended compass as seven and a quarter octaves, or simply put, 88 notes'. The 88 notes are made up of an average of 220 strings; the average string tension is about 170 lbs per string (with an increase of 15% in the bass) between the top and the center of the compass." Sonny spoke to Lexington from the echoes of the past, reciting in memories what he had often read aloud from his tattered old manual while forcing Lex to work on the club piano way back when. Sonny had a rather large, eclectic collection of repair manuals and crafting books for all sorts of instruments because he had wanted to craft his own line of instruments, before opening his club. Lex never found out why his former boss and close friend had given up on his previous dream, but Sonny had seemed happy enough running the club and using the band for his building side projects. Lexington had grumbled along with all of the rest, back then, but now he smiled wistfully as he worked on this project of his own making. "The string lengths in octaves is increased in the ratio of 17:9 for each descending octave; wire gauges increase by a half every six notes, down to the tenor area and more frequently there after. Particular consideration is made for string lengths to increase all the string lengths at a ratio of 17:9 especially in the bass it would be very impractical so the diameters of the bass strings are increased with nearly every note in the bass..." It had taken a good few months to scavenge materials decent enough to make the piano wires and the sound board. No average wire could do; Sonny had stressed the importance of a sturdy wire core and quality copper for the layering. Concord, upon seeing all that Lexington had hoarded, seemed impressed and mildly perturbed by the intended use of the precious materials. He didn't say a word, though, merely lit a cigar and went to work elsewhere, completing a project of his own. He never complained about what Lexington did, or his behavior. Concord always appeared to understand what Lex needed better than Lex himself. He was more familiar with grieving, one supposed. And that was what Lexington was doing, really. Grieving. Building up memorials, altars to all those dead but not forgotten. After Anchorage, there had been a counselor who spoke to him about survivor's guilt. His emotions then were mild compared to now. Sonny. Dolly. Specs. Kitty. Noire. Marco. Havana. Blaire. Tom. The Good Sir. Cedric. V. Mikey. Clyde. Glenda. They had been friends. They had been family. They had all traveled together to Vegas and had marveled at the bright neon lights of Sin City. They had hopped a freight car and gone across the us until they had ended up in California, and had played for money on the beach like bohemians when Mikey and Clyde had lost their funds. They had all attended Glenda's wedding to some mook who wasn't good enough to kiss her shoes, and they all knew the ups and downs and dramas and heartaches that went with Kitty's Beau of the Week. So many memories, so many strings, so many notes, so many songs stuck in the past. "Assembling the case work round the piano is really a cabinet making skill involving gluing, screwing, and doweling and the use of clamps and presses... But we can save that for another day, Maestro. Figure we'd be better off playing ones of these days, right? I can see you getting twitchy doing all this grunt work, don't think I don't see it!" Lexington lightly tapped a piano hammer against one of the few anchored strings and hummed. "You know me, Sonny. The only work worth doing has a beat to it."