Bring out your dead! - Old Pianos

For some time I've noticed ads offering free pianos in the local online buy/sell sites. They make me sad.

This is part of the "great stuff transfer" as seniors leave their family homes and move to lodges and facilities with more support and more community. Upright pianos, the "good china," all the things that in the past were signals of gracious, civilized, successful living, have to go ... somewhere.

Upright pianos used to be a feature item in most homes. Now you can barely give them away. More and more are going straight to the landfill.

Related CBC article here:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-piano-free-sellers-1.7405348

Surely there's an way to recycle and reuse these "dead pianos." Anything is better than the dump!

- Turn it into a display cabinet

- Bolt the soundboard to a wall for kids to strum on

- Turn all that hardwood lumber into new things

- Make urns for cremated ashes (especially of someone who loved playing piano!)


What would you do with an old piano that is not worth restoring?

I remember dealing with an old upright once years ago.  Not being aware of other options, and not wanting to spend $ to have it hauled off, two of us decided to take on the challenge of breaking it up for firewood.  What I thought might take an hour took us most of a day because of the joinery and glue in that thing!!  There was a heavy bronze plate embedded in the wood in one place, which took forever to extract.  But it was great firewood!

I see some beautiful antique pianos for little cost or free. I thought that I could pick  one up and use the old wood and the ivory in jewelry but it is illegal to reuse the ivory keys.

There's a thread from 10 years ago on the same topic:
https://permies.com/t/33093/musicians-form-lynch-mobs-Dale

Ideas in the thread:
- Beehive
- Planter

I like the idea of an indoor planter - take off the back and remove the guts, put glass on the back and open up the front. Placed against a big window, it could still be the centrepiece of the room -- a real conversation piece!

Could they be turned into soap box derby racers for big boys? Those things have some mass, man. And then collect the firewood, metal bits, and mangled remains human or otherwise at the bottom of the hill? Helluva a you tube channel.

Edit: Better still if there's a guy in a jockey seat playing it as it rolls.

Back when I was a kid almost every kid took piano lessons.

Every year at Christmas there was a recital so the kids could show off for their parents.

Not many kids now take lesson and have a piano at home to practice on.

A good way to buy a piano is to buy a house that already has a piano.  

That piano might even turn out to be a grand piano.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:.............

This is part of the "great stuff transfer" as seniors leave their family homes and move to lodges and facilities with more support and more community. Upright pianos, the "good china," all the things that in the past were signals of gracious, civilized, successful living, have to go ... somewhere.

What would you do with an old piano that is not worth restoring?

First, yes....in the sad department. My mother is in her final years in assisted living.  Siblings took care of her transfer....I don't even know what happened to the piano that she had, but probably off to the thrift store.  I gotta say, she was wildly gifted with music....could play most styles of music on the piano by ear as well as read sheet music, learned rudimentary guitar, and sang in the church choir til she no longer could.   All of this learned early in a little farmhouse in rural South Dakota in the '30s and 40's.

More to the thread point:  Upright pianos stripped of innards might make nice china hutches..??  Baby and full grands a more difficult problem....but I like the notion of a planter of sorts.  I've seen more activity around the building/selling/renting of raised-bad planters and have considered how a service may arise for elder homes.  The service would take orders on what kind of garden plants the residents would want to see and the provider would drop off raised bed planters already seeded or planted with the veggies of choice.  Could an old grand piano similarly stuffed with goodies be dropped of temporarily or permanently at such a facility or offered to home-owners wanting something in their yard "a bit different"?

Finally, with the vastly improved sound quality of digital keyboards over the years (and "lean-ness" of their casings), could keys and strings be removed from an upright piano with the newer digital keyboard placed where the old one existed?  With the strings removed from the cabinet, speakers and amplification could be placed inside giving a modernized sound inside of a legacy, decorative  exterior.  Maybe?....

I love the beehive idea

I love this thread!

My work is carpentry and fine woodworking and I have repurposed a couple of old pianos and finally came to the conclusion that it takes so much time to strip down and reuse the mediocre materials that it is not worth it by time and money measures.  The cast iron harp is a bear to take off and move around by itself, the key mechanism pieces and parts are so small they are difficult to reuse, and there are few solid wood parts of any useful size or notable value.

However, I did make a cajon out of my grandmas old piano and a countertop for a van conversion out of another.  Then one of them had some beautiful carved corbel looking pieces that I used for a curtain rod hanger, the keyboard cover was a curved right angle and so I made some light weight floating shelves out of them.

Even if you come across an excellent looking piano and think "Dang, I can tune it up and start playing that sucker!"  Chances are that if it hasn't been tuned seasonally by a professional throughout its life that it will need restringing which can cost at least $5,000 (in my area pre-Covid).  Which is usually not worth it when considering the quality and availability of electronic keyboards.

Also, we have to face the fact that our grandmas' style is not the same as our own aesthetic tastes.  Times are tough and when I inherited grandmas china set it was put into use immediately and not just for special occasions.  Example, our cat eats off of beautiful tea saucers, definitely not the intended purpose of that set.

Even though I was able to salvage a small percentage of material from the two pianos, the overall conclusion is buy new lumber and make something that actually fits the space that you love rather than try to force a humongous heirloom into your space just because you feel guilty about sending it to the dump.

If you come across an old Baldwin, Steinway, or Chickering (among others) then ignore everything I just said and find an antique piano appraiser.  You may have won the lottery!

John Weiland wrote:Finally, with the vastly improved sound quality of digital keyboards over the years (and "lean-ness" of their casings), could keys and strings be removed from an upright piano with the newer digital keyboard placed where the old one existed?  With the strings removed from the cabinet, speakers and amplification could be placed inside giving a modernized sound inside of a legacy, decorative  exterior.  Maybe?....

Oooo, this gives me ideas. While the mechanical mechanisms and the tuning of an old piano may be beyond hope, that big beautiful resonant sound board is still there. If the electronic signal from a portable keyboard, acoustic electric guitar, etc., could somehow be mechanically transferred to that sound board via some sort of piezo element or speaker, the depth of total sound would be amazing!

Edit: Found an upright piano soundboard image. It really is quite the beast in there!

I love this thread too!

My parents could be really spiteful and gave my piano away. It had ivory keys and brass candlesticks and was made of solid walnut.

My father, an opera lover, would have realized that disposing of my piano was like giving away a cherished pet!

Oh well, a post like this restores my faith in humanity!

I love the bee hive idea best -- but I have always loved bees

When I was 8 and got stung by a wasp for putting my apple core in the trash (before I learned you can eat the core) I decided that the devil created wasps
When I informed my father, he chuckled and asked what about everything else? And to his credit, he didn't tell me I was wrong

Oh wow, Ra, that's harsh. I hope your love of music found new pathways? You can't hold back a roaring river for long!

I bought a Rolland JX3P -- one of the first professional MIDI keyboards which I have to this day

I think a no-kill shelter for pianos would be lovely...

I wonder how many elderly people arrive back from an extended hospital stay to find their pianos already gone and their belongings well on their way to being reduced by well meaning and not so well meaning relatives

Another good reason to plan ahead legally and logistically as we age

Here's a little pick-me-upper: the "Broken Piano" song from a kids' album that's great fun - "Frog Trouble."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaA_VSPDBOA

Nice! That reminded me of my first piano located in the garage of our second house when I was 2 to 4 years old -- I still remember it. Buckingham in UK so winter temperatures were quite moderate and always humid!

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Oh wow, Ra, that's harsh. I hope your love of music found new pathways? You can't hold back a roaring river for long!

I was taking a music degree -- while my piano was being snuck away. It had amazing warm tones
Oh well, so did my professional flute

Taught music in schools like I did when I came to Canada in grade 5 for the year before immigration and taught a bunch of classmates recorder beside the flag pole lunchtimes at the front of the school where it was quiet

And slid into database programming and mini mainframe admin without formal schooling, who says computers and music aren't languages

Ra Kenworth wrote:My parents could be really spiteful and gave my piano away. It had ivory keys and brass candlesticks and was made of solid walnut.

My father, an opera lover, would have realized that disposing of my piano was like giving away a cherished pet!

At about 8yrs old, I told my piano teacher I hated the song wee were working on (the theme from the movie 'Love Story'), and begged for something else. Two weeks later, I came home from school to find a few big guys moving my piano out of our house, and into a truck! Turns out that song was my mom's favorite, and she took it personally, that I'd rejected it.

I've had 2 more, as an adult, both of which had to be rehomed, when I moved. But, I've built a collection of other instruments, from a djembe to a dulccimer, a couple lap harps, and a variety of other small ones. But, my favorite, and one that I'll never have to leave behind, and the one I'm most proficient with - my vocal chords. But, I still long for those 88keys, whether they're weighted, in a true-piano-sound keyboard or another real piano.

Needless to say, my feelings about this thread are mixed. But, I guess I'd rather a truly 'dead' one be given new life. I've seen (primarily on pinterest & a couple upcycling blogs) some very cool upright renos, out there. Some have been turned into desks, some have become dry bars, one was a potting bench, and another into a mini library.

Gunnar Gebhard wrote:......
If you come across an old Baldwin, Steinway, or Chickering (among others) then ignore everything I just said and find an antique piano appraiser.  You may have won the lottery!

Doh!!!  For sure mother's piano was a Baldwin, but a "Console" model, in between a spinnet and an upright.  I'm sure this was not looked into when it was jettisoned from the house.  


Ra K. wrote: "I bought a Rolland JX3P -- one of the first professional MIDI keyboards which I have to this day "

Cheaper for sure, but I went with Casio.  It goes without saying that being able to stand them up against the wall in a closet is a plus when space is tight!  But I was also impressed with its Hammond B3/Leslie effect made famous in the late 60s/early 70s rock bands.  Think 'Deep Purple', Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Rick Wakeman, etc.  But also went Casio for my mother in her assisted living apartment.  She doesn't like it there.....if she leaves her door open when rocking out at top volume, maybe they will kick her out of the facility!

Douglas A. wrote: "If the electronic signal from a portable keyboard, acoustic electric guitar, etc., could somehow be mechanically transferred to that sound board via some sort of piezo element or speaker, the depth of total sound would be amazing!

Edit: Found an upright piano soundboard image. It really is quite the beast in there!"

Maybe if flat-profile speaker cabs could be bolted directly to the resonating parts it would give the sound more depth...?  But I'm also thinking that without the strings, lots more storage space inside for things like books, home finance documents......and half-eaten Snickers bars.

Carla Burke wrote:

At about 8yrs old, I told my piano teacher I hated the song we were working on (the theme from the movie 'Love Story'), and begged for something else. Two weeks later, I came home from school to find a few big guys moving my piano out of our house, and into a truck! Turns out that song was my mom's favorite, and she took it personally, that I'd rejected it.

Parents who value their kids as mirrors of themselves

Your story tells so much more about your mom than you!
Too bad your mom didn't get to learning that song herself!
Wow!

My mom quit my piano lessons when my teacher was concerned about my chronic migraines and suggested I get screened for brain cancer -- I couldn't tell her they were from getting smashed in the head constantly for 16 years
Even the seizures didn't completely deter her. (I'm mostly better now)

I was in UK when the song
Making Plans for Nigel
came out
Still young, I completely understood it

Made sure I didn't make the same mistake on my kid

Ra Kenworth wrote:

Parents who value their kids as mirrors of themselves

.......

Made sure I didn't make the same mistake on my kid

Not to side-track the thread too much, but as a Yank I've always been impressed by the career work of the UK's John Bowlby and the 'Attachment Theory' that he formulated.  Was always a bit confused as to why his observations did not take hold more firmly in the UK even as his work spawned much continued research and corroborating results in the US and worldwide.  It is noteworthy that Bowlby was generally at odds with Anna Freud, Sigmund's daughter, even as she was a more visible figure in British psychoanalysis on account of her father's fame as well as some of her own work.

Back to pianos:  Even as I don't avidly use Facebook for social interaction much, I like perusing Facebook Marketplace and have seen numerous "free to a good home" adds for legacy pianos, accordions, organs, etc. and can at least ponder the possibilities.  Heck, my wife rescued many animals over the years and gave them a good life on our farmstead.  Maybe I could convert an outbuilding to a piano rescue??

John Weiland wrote:
Maybe I could convert an outbuilding to a piano rescue??

That's what I envisioned -- piano hives in a shed or barn

I could not get past "Bring out your dead-"  It makes me want to watch Monty  Python!  LMAO!

What if the piano tells you "but im not dead yet!" should you bash it with a shovel and proceed to dismantling it or try to learn to play it?

I had to edit because i just had a great idea,you could plant a shrubbery in it! Perhaps just a small one though!

Shookeli Riggs wrote:What if the piano tells you "but im not dead yet!" !

It might be risky: revenge of the undead piano 😂