One of the world's largest pianos is making some noise in Dunedin. Built by a young Timaru man, it's long enough to comfortably lie down in.
Some of the country's top concert pianists have played it, and now a few students are trying it out.
The unusual look of the piano turns heads, but it's the sound that comes out when it's played that's really striking a chord.
Piano builder Adrian Mann says "the sound is just a really big, deep, rich sound".
Regular pianos use copper-wound strings on the bass notes to reduce their length.
Mr Mann wanted to see just how much steel piano wire he'd need to hit the same pitch.
"I found out that it was about 20-foot long, but the sound was so incredible. It just inspired me to want to build a piano."
The young inventor created what's believed to be the world's longest single-keyboard piano. It measures 5.7 metres in length, and weighs 1.2 tonnes.
Mr Mann started the project when he was 16, custom making many of the parts for his Alexander Piano.
For the past two years it's been housed in a Timaru church. But the piano tuner and restorer was keen to shift the unique instrument to his Dunedin workshop, a move that proved a big logistical exercise.
"Actually the fire department had to come in and they blocked half the road off to let me back up the driveway," Mr Mann says.
There's been a lot of interest in the new arrival, a few players even getting to tinkle the ivories.
But the piano man says there are no plans to start a production line for his extra-long creation.
Newshub.
