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Old Piano Soundboard
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Author:  Wayne Brown [ Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Old Piano Soundboard
I salvaged an old piano soundboard from a piano that was being disassembled. A piece of hardware had a date of 1890 something, I was told. The wood appears to be red spruce. It is made of strips of spruce in various widths. Some of the strips are quarter sawn and some are not. The tone bars are the same way, some are quarter sawn.

Has anyone ever used old piano soundboard material to make a guitar or whatever?
Author:  Chris Pile [ Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
I've heard it's possible.
I saved the soundboard from a piano once to do so, but gave it up.
Maybe I expected too much....
Author:  Lonnie J Barber [ Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
I've heard of it being done also


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Author:  John Arnold [ Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
I know it has been done, and I have heard the results can be good. I have salvaged a few piano soundboards myself, but I have only used the braces so far. I cut them into guitar braces, and they worked fine. The soundboard itself is usually composed of pieces narrower than 5", and the thickness is not enough to resaw. That means that a guitar top would have to be made of several pieces that are not bookmatched. Other than looks, there is no reason not to do multi-piece tops. One of my early guitars had a ten-piece top.
Author:  JasonM [ Sun Aug 17, 2014 10:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
When you consider the price of a A or AA top, which is better than you'd end up with, would not be worth the time, unless there is some sentimental value to the wood.
Author:  Clay S. [ Mon Aug 18, 2014 8:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
I've salvaged a few for brace material. Not really worth the effort.
Author:  cphanna [ Mon Aug 18, 2014 10:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
Hey, Wayne,
Yes, it can be done, but you've heard the objections that many builders have. But here's the way I look at it: If you don't mind the time it takes to salvage the quarter sawn pieces and if the guitar is for your own use, I see no reason why you shouldn't try it. You will know whether you actually want to use a multi-piece top well before you're ready to glue it to the sides. You can camouflage the various top joints under colored lacquer. You really have nothing much to lose except your time. Alternatively, you might be able to get some uke tops or mandolin tops out of the salvaged piano board. They wouldn't be book matched, but you could slip-match a top out of two lengths from the same strip. And if you need a little extra width, you could probably "wing" your top with off-cuts from the waist area.

So, if you're an experimenter and don't mind the extra work, I encourage you to go for it.
Author:  phil [ Mon Aug 18, 2014 7:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
This conversation has taken place here a few times in my years. The conclusion has always been like the responses above - not really worth the effort for narrow, wide grained material.
Author:  John Arnold [ Tue Aug 19, 2014 5:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
Quote:
When you consider the price of a A or AA top, which is better than you'd end up with


I suppose it depends on whether you think old wood is 'better'.
I do......at the very least it is more stable. The pianos I have salvaged may be 100 years old, or more. The maple from the pin block is invariably some of the best hard maple I have found for bridgeplates. It is comparable to Timeless Timber.
Author:  ernie [ Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
+1 john
Author:  Mike OMelia [ Tue Aug 19, 2014 10:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
JasonM wrote:
When you consider the price of a A or AA top, which is better than you'd end up with, would not be worth the time, unless there is some sentimental value to the wood.



All wood has some sentimental value. Even the 2x4s on my drill press table. I find it so hard to throw any wood away. :)

If I owned that top, I would repurpose it into braces and what have you. It's been around a long time. No reason it should not go on in another form!
Author:  Wayne Brown [ Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
Well, thanks for all the comments! I've had a chance now to process and determine what to do with this piano wood. As far as the soundboard, there was only two 4" strips side by side that were quarter sawn. I may get one small guitar top. The rest is IMO less than desirable for guitars. Some of it was even slab sawn. There is some of the SB that I will use for ukes. With what is left, I'll find some other way to repurpose it. Now the braces will make good brace material.
John-Glad you mentioned reusing the pinned bridge, I wasn't sure what to do with it and it turned to be great piece of maple.
Author:  John Arnold [ Tue Aug 19, 2014 8:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
Quote:
John-Glad you mentioned reusing the pinned bridge, I wasn't sure what to do with it and it turned to be great piece of maple.

The bridges typically are maple, but the larger piece of maple I was referring to is the pin block (AKA pin plank), which is what the tuning pins are driven into. It can be very difficult to salvage, since all 200+ pins need to be removed. A variable speed drill is the ticket for removing the pins. They will eventually screw out......after many, many turns.
I first discovered the pin block when I found out that Snuffy Smith was using that particular maple to make his banjo bridges.
Author:  Wayne Brown [ Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Old Piano Soundboard
John--Now I understand what you mean by the pin block. The lady that was disassembling the piano wanted to save the pins for some reason. So, that block stayed with her. There's a possibility that the maple block would be available after the pins are removed??
So that's where those famous bridges came from!
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