Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Repurposing the wood from a 1920's upgright piano

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Northern Ky
    Posts
    2

    Repurposing the wood from a 1920's upgright piano

    I'm looking for advice and ideas on how I might go about re-purposing or recycling the wood from a 1920's era upright player piano. I don't think that re-storing the piano to playing condition is economically viable so other than sending the piano to a landfill or scraping it for junk value (which I think will be minimal), I'm looking for some creative ideas on how to best use the wood and other components.
    One way or the other, I need to get the piano out of my garage.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    I have used a 1830's piano for wood. The sound board did not have remarkable spruce in it. but,back in those early days when I was a teenager,spruce was hard for me to find,so I used it. Some pianos made later though,like Kohler and Cambell(I visited their factory many years ago),used poplar veneered with spruce. That would not be suitable for guitar tops.

    The 1830's piano had been left out in the rain,and was way beyond saving. The rest of that piano,apparently an English make,was made of Scotch pine,called deal. It was knotty,and not much good for anything.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Mountainburg, AR
    Posts
    3,031
    Blog Entries
    2
    I have an old upright piano (I don't know it's age, but it is probably in the 1920-1940 range) in the garage of my rent house that I need to deal with at some point. At the very least I am going to need to break it up into pieces, just so it can be lifted into a truck. I have no idea as to what it weighs, but it is more than I and 3 young buck can handle. So the plan will be to cut it up into smaller pieces. I would like to save some of the wood from the cabinet, because it looks pretty interesting, but I am not sure if there would be enough to make anything other than some sort of accent pieces for a bigger project. I will be interested in seeing what others might suggest to do with Tom's.
    Larry J Browning
    There are 10 kinds of people in this world; Those who understand binary and those who don't.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    If it is veneered,likely the wood beneath the veneer would not be of the best quality.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Mountainburg, AR
    Posts
    3,031
    Blog Entries
    2
    It also seemed like I remember someone saying to be careful disassembling it due to the tension on the strings causing some unexpected excitement.
    Larry J Browning
    There are 10 kinds of people in this world; Those who understand binary and those who don't.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    north, OR
    Posts
    1,160
    No idea on the wood in it; but do detension the strings (slowly and in steps until they are completely 100% slack) and only THEN remove the harp before dissasembly.

    Some reasonable diagrams here: http://www.wikihow.com/Dismantle-a-Piano

  7. #7
    I once worked for an antiques dealer who had some pieces of a piano that were Cuban mahogany veneered on both sides,
    with brazilian rosewood. We used both in patching up other stuff. I used to wonder what could have reduced something
    like that to salvage.

  8. #8
    If it's 1920s piano, there's a decent chance that the white keys have ivory tops, and the black keys are ebony. I don't think you can sell the ivory, but you could at least give it to your local piano guy for restorations. It would be a shame to waste it. Off the top of my head, ebony keys might be just about the right size for an archtop guitar saddle. Maybe a local builder might be interested.

    You might turn the soundboard into some simple to build instruments...could make for some interesting projects for the winter. Mountain and hammer dulcimers come to mind. The hammer dulcimer is particularly attractive because as it turns out, you can reused the tuning pins. They're right at home on a hammer dulcimer. Some other stringed instruments too, like perhaps a zither, bandura or pianoette, but a hammer dulcimer is a pretty simple instrument to build and they're reasonable easy to learn to play basic tunes.

    I'm at a loss what to do with the action.

    Unfortunately, I don't think the rest is all that useful. It's not unusual for people to simply give away pianos, and to have trouble doing it. Because of the lacquer and/or plywood, you can't even really cut them up and just burn them. Your best bet might be to just put an add on Craigslist for a free piano, and see if someone comes and takes it away. Then it's their headache to deal with.
    Last edited by John Coloccia; 11-10-2014 at 7:37 PM.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Northern Ky
    Posts
    2
    Thanks for the feedback.
    I did examine the piano more closely this morning. It has a brand name of Walworth (serial number of 100738) and was manufactured by the M. Schulz Piano Company of Chicago. Based on some internet research it was likely built before 1920. The M. Schulz company went out of business during the Great Depression.

    I'd have to do a bit of research to see what kind of wood or veneer situation I'm dealing with. When the piano was still at my parent's house, my father started but did not finish a project to "antique" the piano. That's right...it has a lovely base coat (green) but the top toner coat/glaze was never applied. So I'll have to strip some of that off to see what I'm dealing with.

    I'll probably wait until next spring/summer to do anything as the piano is stored in an attached but unheated garage.
    I have plenty of other higher priority projects to fill my time.
    I'll keep everyone posted.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    If the player mechanism is still in the box (many have been removed) a player piano restorer may be very interested in it for the parts. There are many brass and steel parts and perhaps some valve and bellows parts that could be reused. When I restored an old player years ago I found a man who did that for a living who saved old movements when he could get them. There may be someone in your area.

    As someone mentioned, the white keys may be ivory. Piano repair techs save these when they can get them to replace broken and lost ivories and may want more. My tuner has a box full. When I restored my player we replaced all the missing ivories. The black keys on those I've worked on were some hard wood with a black (lacquer?) surface.

    Could the box be made into a playhouse or a unique headboard or shelving unit for music-loving kids?

    I've dismantled several old upright pianos and there wasn't much useful wood to recover. The sides were solid core covered with veneer, often is less than perfect shape. I had to take some things apart with a sledgehammer and saws-all. Most of the carcass went to the landfill. I did save the hardware (huge antique screws and bolts, hinges), piano wires, etc. The top and sides might make nice shelves for the shop. The heavy cast iron frame, brass pedals, etc might go to a metal recycler.

    BTW, with a month of effort I did restore my player to perfect working condition. It was a great learning experience. I gave it away when we moved since I didn't have room for both it and my Baldwin grand.

    JKJ

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •