Deva Vu! I recently got a piano built in London in the 1860s. The internals were beyond restoring. I converted it into a wine cabinet for my daughter. I removed the soundboard and bracing and have been using that to build other instruments. So far, I've built a hammered dulcimer using the spuce for the soundboard. and 2 ukuleles using pieces of the piano soundboard for the uke's soundboard. All of these instruments sound beautiful. I've also been using that wood for bracing in several acoustic steel string guitars. It makes me feel less guilty for gutting out the old piano. It's still making music. Any the piano is a lovely piece of furniture. -- Kevin
Hi Kevin; thanks for your comment. Yes, sometimes antique pianos have gone beyond the point where it's feasible to restore them. Like people, pianos have a lifespan. It seems that you have found ways to put the wood to good use!
Best comment and reply on such a unique video, too cool to imagine the possibilities and the ways to transplant music in our instruments whether they still play or not
Hi. I've built one acoustic guitar and am planning to build a few more. It very much appeals to reuse timber that has a previous life, and pianos seem like a very good example of such. My wife's grandmother's piano is a John Spencer and Co., and about 100 years old, but it really has reached the end of it's useful life. My wife likes the idea of using it to make a couple of guitars. So, I have a couple of questions. (1) Have you ever made a whole acoustic guitar from recycled piano wood? I know that some people are using the piano soundboard, but not other piano timber. (2) is there much variation in the types of wood that was used in these old pianos? (3) If so, what do I need to look for? I might have more questions, depending on your answers. Thanks for your time.
It's a terrific idea, and you must be smart about what you decide to use and expend the work to reclaim. Here's what I would keep: mahogany or rosewood solid or veneered panels that are the top, lid, fallboard and nameboard, music desk; key levers that are spruce or basswood are very good for many things, stickers, pushsticks, bars etc.; the soundboards of pianos are not usually fine grained enough for guitar tops, and may have holes from the bars and framing, so use that material for small keyboard soundboards, general boxes, jigs and fixtures, bars in the guitar. Any carved pieced that may be broken can be turned into knobs or buttons. Very old spruce can be tested for "brash failure"--break a batten of even dimensions until breaking, examine fibres with a lens. Long is good, short, not so good. The panels take the most work, but often have excellent Central American mahogany spp. from Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua that is simply gone now. If you re-saw cleverly you get a veneered mahogany panel good for bending. Saw differently and you get a good mahogany side, top, or back piece. Don't try to re-saw to finely, just get two pieces bookmatched from any panel. Don't bother with cheap pianos made in the US between wars, mainly in blacked or stained oak. They are mainly gone now, RIP. I also collect antique nails, screws and hardware if it's really great. best, clove
After all those clever clive uses for piano parts, I forgot to mention the use to which I have put most of the stuff I harvested: the keys are soaked, bleached and scraped to standard dimension and used for inlay, the sharps are re-cut square and used for guitar nuts. Gaboon ebony is of old pianos is much finer grain and oilier than the Indian and Asian varieties and this is a major harvest that is very easy. Throw the key-levers into a bucket, wait, clean off your good stuff. Soak off the glue and dust with a further bath of vinegar, ammonia, alcohol, soap, diluted in water. Don't leave any parts in water for longer than necessary. c
Deva Vu! I recently got a piano built in London in the 1860s. The internals were beyond restoring. I converted it into a wine cabinet for my daughter. I removed the soundboard and bracing and have been using that to build other instruments. So far, I've built a hammered dulcimer using the spuce for the soundboard. and 2 ukuleles using pieces of the piano soundboard for the uke's soundboard. All of these instruments sound beautiful. I've also been using that wood for bracing in several acoustic steel string guitars. It makes me feel less guilty for gutting out the old piano. It's still making music. Any the piano is a lovely piece of furniture. -- Kevin
Hi Kevin; thanks for your comment. Yes, sometimes antique pianos have gone beyond the point where it's feasible to restore them. Like people, pianos have a lifespan. It seems that you have found ways to put the wood to good use!
Best comment and reply on such a unique video, too cool to imagine the possibilities and the ways to transplant music in our instruments whether they still play or not
thank you
very helpful
Hi. I've built one acoustic guitar and am planning to build a few more. It very much appeals to reuse timber that has a previous life, and pianos seem like a very good example of such. My wife's grandmother's piano is a John Spencer and Co., and about 100 years old, but it really has reached the end of it's useful life. My wife likes the idea of using it to make a couple of guitars. So, I have a couple of questions. (1) Have you ever made a whole acoustic guitar from recycled piano wood? I know that some people are using the piano soundboard, but not other piano timber. (2) is there much variation in the types of wood that was used in these old pianos? (3) If so, what do I need to look for? I might have more questions, depending on your answers. Thanks for your time.
It's a terrific idea, and you must be smart about what you decide to use and expend the work to reclaim. Here's what I would keep: mahogany or rosewood solid or veneered panels that are the top, lid, fallboard and nameboard, music desk; key levers that are spruce or basswood are very good for many things, stickers, pushsticks, bars etc.; the soundboards of pianos are not usually fine grained enough for guitar tops, and may have holes from the bars and framing, so use that material for small keyboard soundboards, general boxes, jigs and fixtures, bars in the guitar.
Any carved pieced that may be broken can be turned into knobs or buttons. Very old spruce can be tested for "brash failure"--break a batten of even dimensions until breaking, examine fibres with a lens. Long is good, short, not so good.
The panels take the most work, but often have excellent Central American mahogany spp. from Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua that is simply gone now. If you re-saw cleverly you get a veneered mahogany panel good for bending. Saw differently and you get a good mahogany side, top, or back piece. Don't try to re-saw to finely, just get two pieces bookmatched from any panel. Don't bother with cheap pianos made in the US between wars, mainly in blacked or stained oak. They are mainly gone now, RIP.
I also collect antique nails, screws and hardware if it's really great.
best,
clove
After all those clever clive uses for piano parts, I forgot to mention the use to which I have put most of the stuff I harvested: the keys are soaked, bleached and scraped to standard dimension and used for inlay, the sharps are re-cut square and used for guitar nuts. Gaboon ebony is of old pianos is much finer grain and oilier than the Indian and Asian varieties and this is a major harvest that is very easy. Throw the key-levers into a bucket, wait, clean off your good stuff. Soak off the glue and dust with a further bath of vinegar, ammonia, alcohol, soap, diluted in water. Don't leave any parts in water for longer than necessary.
c
Old growth wood that was hundreds of years old when it was cut. Irreplaceable (in our lifetime).
That's why it is worth the effort. Besides that, it does not place new demands on scarce resources. Thanks for your comment, c