Mounting a vocal mike to an upright piano

We wanted to attach a mike for a vocalists to an upright piano, to avoid having to faff around with floor stands, but I didn't want to modify (i.e. damage) an antique piano that's around 100 years old.  For what it's worth, I actually prefer playing on such vintage pianos.  Despite the odd tuning problem with some of them (such as this piano's B‑flat an octave below middle-C having a tuning‑peg that keeps slipping out of tune), they have more character in their bodywork, some sound nicer, and the keys are usually much easier to play (modern ones all seem to be incredibly stiff).

I'd looked at various temporary clamping mechanisms, but most would require you to screw something against the wood (potentially damaging it), and you'd need to do that from inside the piano (where there's not a lot of room).  It used to be possible to find a sprung clamp (like a large bulldog clip), but they seemed to have disappeared from the market to be replaced with various things that work like a vice (and only gripping into a tiny surface area, making it highly likely that it'll chew into the woodwork).

This gadget was fashioned out of some wood offcuts to slip over the front panel, and be held in place by the lid (or, in our case, it will hold the lid open since the piano doesn't have a lid prop, and we actually do want the lid open).  And because it isn't fastened in place (it's simply a friction fit), it can be easily slipped around into the best spot to suit the singer.  Using it with a gooseneck allows for quick and easy adjustments for different singers, too (their height, how far they sit from the keys, getting out of the way of their eyelines, shadows on the sheet music, etc).  It's been in use for a couple of weeks now, and seems to be getting the seal of approval from everyone.

Naturally I was concerned that the noises of the piano mechanism would get into the vocal mike (thumps of the keys, etc), but this hasn't been a noticeable issue (so far).  And their piano already has a mike rigidly attached to it behind its sound board to pick up the piano audio, anyway.  So, potentially, it's an unavoidable problem.  But nobody plays quietly at this gig, so musical audio should drown out such noises.

I measured the thickness of the front panel on the piano (the “upper front board,” above the keys) as being around 23 mm, and ferreted through my offcuts to find something that would create a gap of around that size between two pieces of wood.

I cut a few pieces of wood to size, screwed them together, and sanded off the sharp edges.  Then fitted a threaded flange for a gooseneck microphone mount.

Deciding this will be a bit too much of a close fit, and may scratch up the piano's woodwork, I unscrewed it and glued some felt to the insides of the longest pieces (including between where the wooden spacers fit between them), then screwed everything back together.  The felt may, also, help to prevent any rattling noises.

Later on, I glued some more felt to the top, so it's less likely to damage the inside of the piano lid, and should make it even easier to skid it about.  Now there's a felt barrier between all the surfaces that come into contact with the piano.

I decided not to try and pretty it up since it's not going to get treated with the greatest of respect.  It's a quick solution for use on a radio show, where it's not really going to be seen.