Free pianos: Whats good?

[Ugly Nora]

That's all I can think of now, I'm a piano tech by trade so if you have any other questions ask away!

How much would a piano tech charge to remove the soundboard from an upright piano, and would you still get decent sounds out of now that it doesn't have the rest of the piano to resonate?

[MrNovember]

I grabbed a free upright piano a few years ago. It was in pretty decent shape. I still haven't spent any money to get a tech in to tune it, but I'd really like to.

I need to move it to my new house still. My parents are pretty excited to get it out of their house

[ratrod]

A normal piano will not function without the soundboard because the bridge is mounted directly on the soundboard.

A example of a piano built intentionally without a soundboard is the Yamaha CP80 (CP60 is the upright version). They resonate a LOT less than an acoustic piano, not even loud enough to practice on unplugged.

[Ugly Nora]

A normal piano will not function without the soundboard because the bridge is mounted directly on the soundboard.

A example of a piano built intentionally without a soundboard is the Yamaha CP80 (CP60 is the upright version). They resonate a LOT less than an acoustic piano, not even loud enough to practice on unplugged.

I'm probably using the wrong terminology, sorry. What I want is to take the guts/strings out of a piano and have that as a stand alone unit without the piano. I am looking just to manipulate the strings in a non-traditional way without having a large piano in my house. Does that make more sense (or less depending how you look at it )

[ratrod]

You could have just the belly of the piano (strings, cast iron frame, and soundboard) with no keys and action, it would take up a similar amount of space as an unmodified piano but you would have better access to play with the strings.

Come to think of it, that's a fine use for a spinet piano!

[crochambeau]

I have the sound board from a piano that, according to the previous owner, fell four feet and was basically destroyed. Damage is evident in this pic:



It is VERY resonant and sounds great. It also continues to weigh about 250 pounds or so.

A friend has just the frame & strings, it too sounds okay, but the loss of the resonant plane is a downside (not *too* much weight savings either).

[MrNovember]

I have the sound board from a piano that, according to the previous owner, fell four feet and was basically destroyed. Damage is evident in this pic:



It is VERY resonant and sounds great. It also continues to weigh about 250 pounds or so.

A friend has just the frame & strings, it too sounds okay, but the loss of the resonant plane is a downside (not *too* much weight savings either).

Well damn...now I need another free piano...and more space

[UglyCasanova]

I used to know a piano tuner-technician. Took him about 2 years and 150 pianos to feel confident enough to work on one without having his tutor present. I would stay clear unless you either get a tuned free piano (hah!), are ready to cash out for a technician or just want to use the piano for something else.

[Chankgeez]

I used to know a piano tuner-technician. Took him about 2 years and 150 pianos to feel confident enough to work on one without having his tutor present. I would stay clear unless you either get a tuned free piano (hah!), are ready to cash out for a technician or just want to use the piano for something else.

It's not like you'd be tuning it for a concert pianist.



As long as you're OK with the piano not being perfectly in tune.

[MrNovember]

I need that book and those tools. I've had my free piano for years and still haven't cashed out to tune it. Now there's no point until I cash out to move it again

It's not that out of tune though. I was playing it a bit with it's current tuning. There's just a few notes that are really off

[Chankgeez]

I think that book's a little out of date, but I'm sure there're piano tuning tutorials around somewhere.

I think it'd be fun (and frustrating) to learn how to tune a piano.

[UglyCasanova]

I'm sloppy when it comes to a lot of TOAN, but if there's something I really can't stand it's an out-of-tune piano. Even if it's only a bit off. So, yeah, you can theoretically tune it yourself for an decent sound, but I personally couldn't deal with it.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, it's not like you could just bend a note or something.

[Faldoe]

I'm sloppy when it comes to a lot of TOAN, but if there's something I really can't stand it's an out-of-tune piano. Even if it's only a bit off. So, yeah, you can theoretically tune it yourself for an decent sound, but I personally couldn't deal with it.

Yeah, there is nothing more satisfying to the ear than a perfectly in tune piano. My friend rented a big high-end loft that had an expensive grand piano and it was so fun to play.

[UglyCasanova]

Yeah, it's not like you could just bend a note or something.

There are 230 strings in a grand piano, and most pianos have multiple strings attatched to each key in the upper and mid register. Doesn't really matter if you can bend a note if the strings attached to each note aren't tempered perfectly. It would still be out of tune.