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Piano Dismantling
Piano Dismantling Procedure
Assess the piano to determine if it is salvageable or if it should be dismantled.
What type of damage has been done?
Smoke & fire damage
Structural abuse
Water damage
Vandalism
Rodents
Mold
Exterior
Warped
Veneer fallen off
Severe water damage
Soundboard buckled & ribs unglued
Separation of sides, bottom, pin-block from backboards
Interior
Metal parts rusty
Action parts unglued, broken, missing, rusted
Bridges split or unglued
Keys warped, broken or missing
Relative Value
Overall value of condition of piano vs. equivalent pianos
Amount of time required to rebuild the piano
Mark Status of Piano
White tape = save for sale or for rent
Green tape = give away for free: donate
Red tape = dismantle
Record piano name & serial number
Remove Basic Parts
Gather Tools
Screwdrivers
Large crescent wrench
Vice grips
Hammer
Small sledge hammer
Large sledge hammer
Pry bar
Flat bar
SawZaw
Drill
Grinder
Ear protectors
Eye protection
Gloves
Remove Action
Save good actions with other actions: store vertically (Every single action part can be removed, saved and re-used)
Set bad actions on future burn pile (Burn parts containing metal on concrete for easy clean-up)
Remove Keys
Place keys in a bucket, box or bag to be disassembled later
Save keys
If the keys are in excellent shape, keep the entire set
Good keys can be cut, glued, and spliced for repairing broken keys on other pianos
If the keys are not perfect, save only the parts
Save key parts
Capstan screws
Accidentals are always useful for replacing missing sharps on customers’ pianos
Having a wide selection of styles helps matching replacements to originals.
Real ebony is becoming quite valuable
Key buttons
Ivory heads and tails, and sometimes fronts
Ivory is becoming increasingly rare
Plastic key tops if they are re-usable.
Plastic key tops can be used for other purposes
House key rings
Dividers in file cabinets
Mosaics
Key leads
Punch out key leads wearing gloves &mask
Key sticks without leads can be used for other purposes
Lead can be sold
Key sticks
A large collection of key sticks can be donated to a school class for doing art work
Key sticks can be made into wedges or used as straight edges
Wooden key sticks make great kindling
Remove Turn Pieces
Music boards are popular for artists
Side posts make wonderful shelf supports, window trim
Music support board makes a perfect narrow wall shelf
Fall boards placed vertically add interest to room corners
Key slips make interesting boarders. Save the key slip screws
Bottom boards make light-weight work-benches and tables, or wide shelves
Legs make unique decorative additions
Much of the wood is perfect for wood carvers
All piano wood makes excellent fire wood
Salvage Hardware
Create a System
Gather various sizes of containers
Cans, buckets, large plastic containers, drawers
Construct racks for storing long pieces
Separate rusty parts from good parts
Separate sizes and types of screws in individual containers
Unscrew all metal parts
Hinges
Latches, swivels, locks
Pedals
Casters
Rods, V-bars, brackets, guides
Agraffes
Screws and bolts
Save all screws and bolts
For difficult screws, use a large crescent wrench on a square-shank screwdriver, or for bolts use a socket with a long handle
If available, use a power drill
Piano Body
Tilt the piano back on a tilter
Make life easy: reduce bending over and kneeling
Remove the sides, bottom and key bed
Unscrew the four large key bed screws that hold the key bed to each side
A sledge hammer will remove these parts quickly
Each side can be sledged off in one or two blows.
Knock the sides close to the key bed framework.
Sledge the key bed from the bottom in one blow
Knock off the bottom board
If any of the piano top remains, pry or knock it off
Once apart, individual screws and hardware can be removed easily
Remove piano wire
Optimal tools for removing piano wire
Using a metal grinder, cut all the piano wire just below the tuning pins
If you don’t have a metal grinder, use a hammer and becket breaker
If you don’t have a becket breaker, use wire cutters
Metal container
Dedicate a clean large plastic garbage can for metal recycling
Since metal gets heavy, it helps to have a can with wheels
Store all piano wire, tuning pins, bent screws, cracked plates
Pull out all the wire and place it in the metal-recycling container
Wear eye protection or close your eyes while handling wire
Sometimes it helps to hold handfuls of wire in the center and to push the wire down in the middle, so the wire centers go deep but the ends stick up
Sometimes it helps to hold handfuls of wire in the center and to push the wire down in the middle, so the wire centers go deep but the ends stick up
Drill out all the tuning pins
Unscrew and remove the V-bar
If there is no wire attached to the pins, offer them on Craig’s List. It is amazing the number of uses people come up with for tuning pins.
If the pins are trashed and rusted and there is no time to remove the wire from them, put them in the metal recycling bin
Remove all the bolts, metal posts, plate nuts and screws
Save the hardware in dedicated containers
Salvage all pedal parts
Salvage the casters and caster plates
Lift out the plate
Give the plates to artists or to someone who wants to build a fence
Recycle the iron
Donate the iron to a non-profit organization
Flip the piano over
Remove the back posts and pin block
Sledge or pry off any remaining bottom boards
Sledge out the bottom blocks
Remove the back posts
Sometimes the posts can be sledged apart
If they can’t, cut the back posts off the pinblock with a SawZawcircular
A SawZaw is quickest and easiest
A circular saw will not cut through, but might cut enough to sledge off the rest
A chain saw is quick, but noisy
Soundboard
Good condition: save it to make things
Table
Wall
Art piece
Material for a musical instrument
Bad condition: break apart, or cut up into kindling with a saw
Bridges
Remove pins and make into things
Frame for key hooks at a school
Glue multiple bridges together for 3-D art
Construct marble-rolling toys
Leave pins in the bridge
Burn and then discard the metal
Use as a scraper or roughing tool
Use bridge as a destructive weapon
Burn mixed wood &metal
Find a safe spot for a large fire
Check on the burn ban requirements
Burn all parts containing metal that cannot be removed
Once burnt, pull out all metal for recycling
What remains goes to the landfill: this should be a small amount
Firewood
Let people know that you have some unusual wood pieces
Any remaining wood that has not been spoken for can be cut up for burning
Don’t just have a bon fire: burn the wood as needed to heat in the winter
Now you know how I heat my house