Piano seller Robert Friedman shows off marks on a Steinway grand piano. Famous inventor Thomas Edison once owned the instrument. Shallow dents rough up the black lacquer above the keyboard. They appear to be teeth marks. Why would anyone bite a piano?

Did you know it may be possible to “hear through your teeth”? Mr. Edison could.

Thomas Edison was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio. The sickly little boy nicknamed “Al” had a big future ahead of him. He grew up to work on inventions. (Have you heard of some of them? The incandescent light bulb? The phonograph? The motion picture camera? All him.)

As he got older, Mr. Edison became hard of hearing. Did he stop listening to music? Nope. He just bit the piano!

 You read that right. As someone played, the great inventor leaned close to the instrument, right above the keys. Pressing his teeth into the wood, Mr. Edison could feel musical vibrations in his skull.

When people have disabilities, they often come up with brilliant ways of getting around them. The ear is connected to the jaw bone. Mr. Edison took advantage of God’s design. What a cool combo of God’s sovereignty and human creativity!

In 1877, Mr. Edison invented the phonograph. (That’s an early version of a record player.) When he bought the piano 13 years later, he was experimenting with sound recording. Mr. Edison owned the instrument for decades. It’s possible it was used in early recordings.

So did Mr. Edison’s teeth make the marks in the piano?

No one can prove it. As far as we know, no black-and-white photo of Edison chomping this piano exists.

On the other hand . . . who else would have taken a nibble?

Mr. Friedman wants the piano to find a new home. “I believe that it belongs somewhere where many, many, many people can see it,” he says.

Why? People can creatively use God’s designs to cope with disability.