Upright piano dismantling - anyone done this?

[Dog Star]

We have this piano in our dining room; we are having this redecorated and carpeted so this has to go. Mrs DS doesn’t use it that much and it costs a relative fortune to be tuned so she’s getting an electronic one instead.

These are worth nothing, which is sad, but FB is awash with people trying to give them away, and ours will be worse as they sigh some ludicrous amount and access to ours is up two flights of steep stone steps. It cost us a few hundred quid to have it professionally delivered.

So I need to dismantle it. It won’t be being reassembled, it’ll be going in my trailer in bits to the tip/on the fire.

Anyone done this before? Any shortcut, dangers, gotchas? Should I cut the strings?

Advice appreciated.

[Bill]

Where's the how to get rid of a shed thread when you need it?

I'd have thought hitting it with a big hammer would be most fun, but maybe slacken the wires first.

[williamp]

I tried with ours, then gave up and paid someone £100 to collect it.

you cant get very far without coming across some very thick lumps of wood and very old screws (mine was Victorian) which didnt want to move.

And those strings are under very high tension They make a lovely twang when you cut them!

[soad]

Throw it out the window?

[Bill]

williamp said:

you cant get very far without coming across some very thick lumps of wood and very old screws (mine was Victorian) which didnt want to move.

If I could direct Monsieur at the right thread for reciprocating saw recommendations... https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Dog Star]

williamp said:

I tried with ours, then gave up and paid someone £100 to collect it.

That might be a good shout.

[Mr Obertshaw]

I took one apart years ago whilst a student... Complete ballache and the bit that looks like a metal harp (with the strings on) was ridiculously heavy. Put it up for free in Facebook and someone may take it away.

[Promised Land]

Quite a sad thread, a perfectly good instrument going to be dismantled and never used again.

No school, care home, shopping mall that requires one?

It sounds like they’re in the same category now as full size slate bed snooker tables, no one wants them so it costs you to get rid of it. What a world we live in.

Isn’t the weight all due to the steel frame on the back?

[Bill]

Promised Land said:

Quite a sad thread, a perfectly good instrument going to be dismantled and never used again.

See also brown furniture. Just not in fashion any more.

[Dog Star]

Promised Land said:

Quite a sad thread, a perfectly good instrument going to be dismantled and never used again.

No school, care home, shopping mall that requires one?

It sounds like they’re in the same category now as full size slate bed snooker tables, no one wants them so it costs you to get rid of it. What a world we live in.

Isn’t the weight all due to the steel frame on the back?

It is sad, but it’s reality. Go on FB marketplace and search for “piano” - certainly in my area it’s awash with folk trying to give them away.

[.:ian:.]

We had one, then moved house. Only when we arrived at the new house did it dawn on us and the movers that there was no way to get it in the house

So, in the shed/cabin it went.

And there it lingered for about 9 years, until I went at it with hammers and chisels. Huge pain in the arse. Removing the strings takes forever, need a really good pair of snips, but it will probably damage them.

I still have the iron frame, need to chop it in half to fit in the car and take to the dump.

[mac96]

I am sure there was a TV show which In cluded a race between two teams to see which team could break a piano up into bits that would fit through an oversize letterbox first.

So it must be possible, with sufficient enthusiasm!

[Stevenery]

Yes, need to lay it on a hard surface and then a sledgehammer will make light work of it. The cast iron frame will crack/shatter when hit. The strings remain attached to the broken sections. The sound for those first few blows is fantastic - like a church organ!

[Watcher of the skies]

Drop it on a Morris Marina?

[XCP]

mac96 said:

I am sure there was a TV show which In cluded a race between two teams to see which team could break a piano up into bits that would fit through an oversize letterbox first.

So it must be possible, with sufficient enthusiasm!

I took part in a competition many moons ago, between Rugby clubs involving sledge hammers, toilet seats and beer. It was very hard work IIRC.

[spikeyhead]

What note do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft?

[RedWhiteMonkey]

spikeyhead said:

What note do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft?

A-flat miner?

[Sporky]

mac96 said:

I am sure there was a TV show which In cluded a race between two teams to see which team could break a piano up into bits that would fit through an oversize letterbox first.

So it must be possible, with sufficient enthusiasm!

There was! They did a bathroom and a caravan too - I forget what else. At the halfway point whoever was ahead got a boost from a certain amount of use of a bigger tool.

I enjoyed it.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

Promised Land said:

Quite a sad thread, a perfectly good instrument going to be dismantled and never used again.

We did the same when we moved last but it wasn't a special piano and was too far gone to make sense to repair/retune properly. This next bit felt really wrong but we needed rid and nobody wanted it...

Took it into the back garden where I carefully removed/unscrewed as much before getting brutal with the rest with a sledgehammer. Worst bit was the metal "harp" or whatever you call it - that think must make up 90% of the weight of a piano. All went in a skip and a scrap man knocked on the door and asked if he could take the metal bit the day after. One thing to note, the keys made absolutely brilliant kindling for the stove/chiminea!

[B'stard Child]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

spikeyhead said:

What note do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft?

A-flat miner?

Dad jokes at their best!!!