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The Piano Man is really The Electronic Keyboard Man.

A tipster who peaked under the lid of Billy Joel’s Steinway grand piano tells me there are no strings inside. The 88 ivories are connected to an electronic synthesizer.

“The fans don’t know it. They love him and pack the place, but the grand ‘piano’ he has onstage is just a shell with no guts,” said my source.

A Joel spokeswoman said, “The piano is not empty inside, there are aspects of both acoustic and synthesized keyboard. There has been no ‘acoustic’ rock and roll or pop pianists probably for the last century.”

The spokeswoman added, “An acoustic piano has to be electronically conveyed otherwise it would never be heard in an acoustically challenging environment like sports arenas or stadiums.”