[CAUT] Piano Disposal & Recycling

[Michael Magness]

The talk of recycling reminded me of a "job" I was requested to do about
this time last year. The receptionist at my denstist had been after me and
after me about how to take apart and remove the old upright in her living
room. It seems it had been brought in through a large sliding glass door
from her back yard since her house is a split level and the piano wouldn't
fit that way. She had since added a deck which she was certain wouldn't
stand the weight of the piano, so it had to go out the front, in pieces. I
explained how to break the strings, etc. and she felt it was worth it to pay
my time for me to do it. I arranged to stop at the end of a short workday
and she agreed to have help available.
When I arrived, there was an older looking man there who was very willing to
do whatever I said, we removed all of the easily removable parts, front,
top, action, keys, keyframe, cheekblocks, keyslip, kickboard, I began
breaking the strings with my becket breaker and hammer and after I had moved
on past the bass he began pulling them out from the bottom and shoving them
in a barrel. We did this with all of the strings then began backing out pins
with a drill and throwing them in the barrel, we removed all of the pins and
upper plate screws. We then started on the desk screws on the sides, removed
them and whaked them loose with a maul, I then removed the nuts on the nose
bolts and the trap work and lower plate screws. We Lifted the plate out and
leaned it against the wall, laid the shell of the piano down removed the
bottom board, toe rail and toe blocks. We then knocked the sides off
and carried the back structure/soundboard out to the attached garage. We
came back and did the same with the plate, the receptionist arrived home
about then and we talked for a few minutes I found out my "helper" was 65
and had just worked his last day at his job for a local construction supply
house that day. We took the back structure out in the driveway and knocked
it apart and I loaded all but the soundboard in my truck, the backposts were
intact as was the pinblock! I took the sides, front, kickboard, top, desk,
fallboard, bottomboard w/trapwork and action. I left the strings,
actionframe and keys.

The cabinet parts will serve as table tops or other things in my shop, the
backposts and pinblock are good hard maple and will also find a home in my
shop the action parts will find their way into other pianos or be passed to
one of the newbies in the chapter. The hardware is already in my parts
cabinet. I already have 2 boxes of keys and a spare action frame so I let
those go to the land fill, the metal; strings, pins, plate, screws, went to
the local metal recycler.


Oh yeah and she paid me for 2 hours labor!

Mike

-- 
The way some people find fault, you'd think there was some kind of reward.
Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com
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