How to Gut a Piano (a lifelong dream of mine)

Ok, let me preface this post by saying that I have been waiting to do this for nearly 5 years. I had to decide which type of piano to do it with, and I decided to look for a spinet. This allows me to lead worship from the stage and still be able to see over the back. After the piano gutting is completed, I replaced the piano with a full size weighted keyboard.

Why? Why gut a piano if your just going to put a keyboard in it? It looks cool. Way better than a keyboard and keyboard stand. And, you will never have to tune it or worry about mic placement again. So... here goes.

found this beauty on craigslist for free. Waited about a month to get the one I wanted. Lady said " My Grandma would have loved for a church to use her piano"... I never told her I would be removing the piano's insides

this was just after removing the lid

each key has a small dowel running up through them that needed to be detatched

the keys lift right off the balancing pin... no tools necessary up to this point

this is the table all the keys used to sit on

this is the view of the harp. that is the thing that really weighs so much

we used a piano tool to loosen all the strings

after they were loose we pulled the strings off with a pair of pliers

here is the cobweb of detached strings. 3 strings for almost every 88 notes on the piano

the large screwdriver was needed to remove 20-30 screws holding the steel harp in place

after wearing ourselves out turning the piano tool, I figured out that a faucet key for commercial garden hoses fits into a drill. the process picked up steam after that

every one of these tuning pins had to come out. That's where the drill and faucet key came in

here is the piano harp. It is very heavy, and cumbersome to remove, but once it was out, the piano was just another piece of furniture

I removed the old wheels and attached larger casters that will roll much easier

I vacuumed every bit of it out. There was sooo much dust and dirt in there!

The keyboard slid into place nicely. No new supports, just the original piano key table.

I wanted the piano pedals to activate my keyboard pedal. Once again, a roll of duct tape did the trick.

I widened a hole in the back of the piano to run power and mic cables through in an inconspicuous place.

this is where we filed away all the extra parts

here she is. side profile 1

side profile 2. Inside the old piano body is a set of computer speakers with a large subwoofer. It allows the keyboard to be played without a sound system if necessary.

from the back no one will know the difference... unless they read this blog.

and there she is... in all her glory

Feel free to comment and ask questions. I know when I was looking for info on the subject that it was hard to find. Most people who disguise their keyboard as a live piano don't want people to know they have done so. After looking closely at a few live shows, and youtube videos of live shows I have noticed a number of Christian and secular bands using pianos that were actually keyboards... and now I have one!