Spruce from old pianos

[Bob Connor]

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"Originally Posted on:Mon Aug 09, 2010"



Got given some internals from an old piano circa 1800 last week so I consulted with our resident piano genius, Craig Lawrence to see what sort of timber it might be.

He reckons it's Swiss Spruce which was the usual timber used in English goannas.

I cut some of it up over the weekend just to see what it looked like and some of it looks OK. I'll test the stiffness over the next few weeks and see how it compares to the Adi and Lutz I've got in stock.

There's certainly enough clear stock there for bracing.

Here's some pics.

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[John Maddison]

Oooh, well seasoned Soprano Uke tops?? ... ooohh!

[Bob Connor]

I've got a few more of those framing timbers to cut up John. If I find anything suitable for Ukes I'll send it across to you. It's certainly very dry and light in weight.

[John Maddison]

You're a good man, Bob! ... your efforts to salvage quality tonewoods from discarded instruments such as this old piano are to be commended.

A local music shop owner put me onto the idea a couple of years ago that vintage pianos made of 'select' European timbers which, while not being sufficiently large enough for full-sized guitars, might be more than suitable for the construction of stringed instruments such as ukes, dulcimers, small harps etc. There's also the option of making three &/or four-piece tops for Concert, Tenor & Baritone ukes, or even smaller-sized 'travel' guitars.

We have a weekly trading post kind of rag in WA called The Quokka and every so often you'll see in the 'free' section there are listings for unwanted pianos to be carted away - it's just a crying shame that I live 440kms from Perth where most of these old goannas lie rotting.

[Bob Connor]

Dave got hold of these ones John. He reckons there's an old bloke here in Geelong that's got a couple of hundred of the buggers.

He's renovating a pub and they built a DJ box out of one of these old pianos.

We gut the guts after it was ripped out. He got the soundboard as well and it looks like it'll make very nice kindling.

[John Maddison]

I was also given the remnants of an old piano recently, which I excitedly dragged into the house only to discover the 'spruce'-looking soundboard was made of 5-ply Crying or Very sad (read: Made in Ireland).

The stringed frame, which is still sitting in the kitchen, makes for an interesting conversation piece:
img~

[kiwigeo]

Local nursing home hasnt noticed their piano is missing yet.

[John Maddison]

... it wasn't me; it wasn't me!!

Nah, this particular one came out of an old cocky's rat & spider-infested shed near Dumbleyung in the southern wheatbelt of WA ... or so the story goes! It still plays a haunting tune when the strings are plucked or hammered ... the guy who leads our local uke group, and who's also a primary school music teacher, saw it recently and asked if he could have it for his classroom, and I've reluctantly said yes.

[Localele]

Grab a pick and a slide and get some nice blues going John.Having hung out in your kitchen maybe a beer bottle neck slide may be the appropriate choice.Could be you will need 2 people to get it wailing.


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