Learned the hands on easy way why I won't ever scrap a piano

i got one with all the wood just like that from my friends sisters house. I left it outside all winter and let the elements do there thing, Snow, rain, cold ect. All the wood warped and fell off. But it only took 5 months.....

I scrapped a (partial) piano once. Never again. Too much work, too little reward. Always learning, sometimes the hard way.

I scrapped a piano once..... ONCE!!!

Most folks I know just burn them in brush piles.

Anyone ever ran into one that had real ivory keys ? Apparently they can sell on Ebay for over $100 per set on inlays .

I've gotten mixed reports on ivory resale. I last knew that you had to prove the ivory was taken before 1977(?) or else it fell under the Endangered Species Act and was forbidden for resale in the US and most other places. Since people who were taking ivory in the past didn't think they would ever stop killing elephants and walruses, they didn't bother putting date stamps on their keys, though I would imagine a piano produced in 1919 would have a date stamp for the whole unit which would pass muster.

I looked into it, some, for a questionable scheme I cooked up, a few years ago.

older pianos have a lead plug to weight the keys in the wood connectors to the hammer- lots of little lead plugs by the TIME you’re done.

I've not scrapped a regular piano, but I did recently scrap an electric organ. small, but fun. Definitely not worth the time, and better to pull the back off, snip the accessible wire, and burn the rest. Where I live, burning stuff is so common the fire dept. only gets called if people see a huge blaze in a small area. I have a metal fire pit, about 6 feet in diameter so I get away with all kinds of stuff. But the organ yielded lots of cool stuff. It was made in 1987, so it had some really nice paper cone speakers that I am saving. Some basic power regulating stuff like transformers and such, lots of brass and wire, and a lot of steel. But the most fun was not being able to find all the screws etc. and resorting to bashing it apart with a hammer. That was super satisfying. Nothing like beating the sh** outta something wooden. LOL

I tried to scrap a old piano once, towards the end, actually that's when I finished, I found the Gold coloured metal frame wasn't Brass.... I pretty much just let go of it and walked away.

Electric pianos often have great key contacts in them, Silver brazing rod as a common contact, or Gold plated wires. Platinum spring key contacts. Each model seems to have a different contact setup.
Some keys have little Silver bars spotwelded on them, like relay contacts have, or the Gold plated Silver bars.
I'd be saving them up if I found them.
The 60's-70's keyboard stuff turns up sometimes & often its 'Free for the taking'.
I did get a ' Lesley Speaker' once but haven't found the piano to suit it so far.

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

I tried to scrap a old piano once, towards the end, actually that's when I finished, I found the Gold coloured metal frame wasn't Brass.... I pretty much just let go of it and walked away.

Electric pianos often have great key contacts in them, Silver brazing rod as a common contact, or Gold plated wires. Platinum spring key contacts. Each model seems to have a different contact setup.
Some keys have little Silver bars spotwelded on them, like relay contacts have, or the Gold plated Silver bars.
I'd be saving them up if I found them.
The 60's-70's keyboard stuff turns up sometimes & often its 'Free for the taking'.
I did get a ' Lesley Speaker' once but haven't found the piano to suit it so far.

I've never even considered scrapping a piano because of the threads I've read here at the SMF about pianos.

Eesakiwi, thanks for the simpsons clip. IMO it is the best out of all of them.