two surplus pianos

WA Martin

WA Martin

Joined
Jan 23, 2007
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Guys, my church is trying to get rid of two old pianos. Here's a link to some photos. This is not a for sale thread. This is an advice seeking thread.

Would anyone care to proffer whether it would be worth it to try to dismantle the pianos and save the wood for something else? I know other's have said that the ivory on the keys, if it is in fact ivory, is really too thin to repurpose but then again someone else said they were able to get the ivory off an old paino and use it (I don't remember for what though...)

So am I deluded to even consider this? Other than making the pianos light enough to carry upstairs is this merely an excercise in futility?

I appreciate your comments.
 
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You really need someone who works with pianos to say what they might be worth as pianos, or even if they are too old to disassemble and reassemble elsewhere.
 
Generally, it is not worth the effort to salvage wood and such from old pianos. On some types, the legs may be good wood. The keys , which may be neither ivory or ebony, are too thin and small for any knife use. The most value is the scrap value of the metal sound resonator.
 
I've used a piano sound board to make a couple guitars, and the legs from it were solid mahogany, but most of the rest of it is cheap lumber with veneer. You might check and see if yours is the same. If the wood is solid, then I would sure re-use it for something.
 
The piano technician told the church that at least one of them is not worth fixing. They're pretty much just old and in the way and not used anymore.

Someone else has suggested donating them to Habitat for Humanity.

I guess I should try to see if there is any information on-line about these makers and see what their construction methods were. If I took them apart it would only be destruction in place. I would not be setting them back up somewhere as pianos again.
 
If you have to tear them down to scrap them, keep an eye out for solid woods, and throw away anything you do not want...
 
Well, hum, I hope Habitat for Humanity will take them. I looked both pianos up on line and they could be worth quite the pretty penny if restored but the restoration is prohibitivly expensive for most folks too. Both talk of their rich wood but also of the quality of the veneer or even double veneering. The Marshall and Wendell should have a solid wood frame but I would think the large boards would have been the most usable.

Since I'm not a wood worker and don't have a specific plan to use the wood I'm probably not going to tackle this project.
 
One of my old friends is "Charlie the Tuner", the best piano guy in the region. He gets flown to places to tune the piano for folks like Whitney Houston.
Anyway, he restores old pianos. He often says to a customer who bought an old piano for $100 ( or was given one for free), " Wow,look at this old girl, this piano will be worth $3000-5000 when restored to good condition." When the owner asks the cost or restoration, he replies,"Oh, I don't know,probably about $4000-6000."
 
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