Doesn't happen often, but I have fun when I have to (get to) junk a
piano. I save all the wood screws, which are higher quality than the ones
made nowdays. I made a hobby workbench out of one old upright and donated
player piano bellows, manifold, and other parts to an artist friend who used
them for sculptures. Recycled the plate at a scrap metal yard. Kept the
trapwork, pedals, pedal rods (dowels), casters, hinges, knobs, other
hardware, soaked the ivories and sharps off and kept them for replacements,
gave the keys to a neighbor who has a woodburning stove. I've knocked the
leads out of keys and used them for weighting lightweight cars on my model
railroad.... pulled keypins out if in good condition to use for odd
replacements.... made a pinblock supporting jack out of the keyblocks and
some nuts and threaded rod.... used the top lids and certain kinds of
fallboards from uprights for shelves in the shop. Made 2 action models for
use at chapter meetings to teach regulating. Have used old hammer butt
assemblies on the jigs for the technical exam (hammer filing, broken shank
replacement).... made a partial keyframe with several keys for the key
rebushing part of the exam. The case I knocked apart with a sledge hammer,
saved any wood usable for shelves, jigs, other projects....if you have room,
you might save the bottom board, if it's not split, for a piano that needs
one in the future. If you can knock the bridge off, small chunks of maple
come in handy for certain repairs. Teenage and twenty-something kids who do
industrial/experimental music will gladly take the strung back to bang,
pluck, drum and otherwise create cool semi-musical noises on.
Just yesterday, a local hotel THREW OUT a baby grand. It was a small
Hamilton, and was in the roll-away dumpster being used by a
construction/remodeling crew. Some musician friends rescued it.
Soundboard OK, pinblock OK, had to dig to find the legs and pedal lyre, top
lid was missing, and it was quite dirty, but heck -- free piano for
struggling musicians. --Dave Nereson, RPT, Denver
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