Repurposing Pianos

My wife and I are a real pair, I tell you.  Those of you that know us are nodding your heads in agreement right now, I'm sure.  And, those of you who don't know us would be nodding as well, I'm certain, if you did.

Our most recent undertaking is adopting old pianos that people are practically begging others to come take off of their hands.  People just don't want them anymore.  They're heavy.  They're huge.  Most are slightly out of tune or have keys that are stuck.  And who needs a piano these days anyway?  It's much easier to iToss the iPod in the iHome and iRock out to iMusic.

Despite our lack of appreciation for them, pianos are a really interesting instrument inside and out.  Most people haven't bothered to check out the insides of pianos, but it's shameful that their evident internal craftsmanship remains hidden behind its external shell.  I did some reading about the manufacturing process of pianos and found that they are incredibly more difficult to manufacture than I had even previously thought.

A piano is essentially an ornate cast iron harp that is mounted to a very thick quality-built hardwood soundboard.  This soundboard is designed to take the resonance of the strings transferred through the harp and through the bridge.  It doesn't absorb the vibration like virtually any other material would, but rather it continues to maintain the resonant pitch from whichever string is struck.  The strings are hit by a felt hammer.  Each string has its own hammer that is sized and weighted specifically for that string. The action, the intricate mechanism that translates the pressing of each key to its respective hammer, is a work of art all its own.  It's a beautiful piece of mechanical engineering that not only is delicately made with precision, but is surprisingly built with such quality that most of these have lasted well over a century in excellent working order.

Here comes the crazy part.  In the last few weeks, Jodi and I have quickly amassed a small collection of six upright pianos, all of which were free for the taking.  It'd be seven if we hadn't already found a home for one of them.  Well, I take that back.  One of them, we already had and another we got for free last fall.  So, really we just got five and gave one away immediately.  So, you're probably wondering what we're doing with them.  Well, many things actually.

I've decided that we'll be using all of them, not unlike how the Native Americans used every part of a buffalo.  I already have two desks in the works that will display the harp beautifully while creating a unique workspace that will inspire creativity.  Jodi made a cute pair of "kissing songbirds" from two of the hammers.  At least one of the actions will remain intact as a display piece.  We've already converted two of the keyboards into hanging art pieces.  The player section of one of the player pianos will become a unique wall shelf complete with a loaded music roll still mounted and "ready to be played".  We're making another wall shelf out of the player's bank of air diaphrams.  We have several other art ideas and and will no doubt come up with many more as we continue.  What I love about this more than anything is that it's yet another thing that Jodi and I are finding that we love to do together.  And, that's what truly matters.  Stay tuned.  Photos to come as projects are completed.

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