Moonbear said:
: Is it completely beyond repair? Seems a shame to destroy a piano if it's repairable. Someone might appreciate it for a child starting piano lessons if they can get repairs done cheaper than buying a working one.
The bottom line is that there probably isn't anything worth salvagiing. Unlike violins, pianos don't naturally have a long life. Instruments like rehearsal pianos that get played hard for 8 or 10 hours a day are scrap after a couple of years. Obviously a $250,000 Steinway is going to last longer than that, but I guess that's not what we are talking about here!
Unless it's got some value as antique furniture or some real historical interest as an instrument (e.g. it's more than say 150 years old) it would be cheaper to buy a factory built modern piano than pay to have it hand-restored.
Giving it to a kid to learn on isn't really a good idea either. If the kid has any interest or talent, they deserve something that will reward their efforts, not something where they will be fighting its defects rather than learning to play properly. Most musical instrument shops in the UK run schemes where you can rent an instrument for a year or two and then either buy at a discounted price or return it if the kid isn't interested or doesn't have any aptitude.
The safe way to demolish it is first take the tension off the strings. You should be able to find a socket spanner that will fit the tuning pegs. To avoid cracking the cast iron frame, start by lowering the pitch of ALL the strings by two or three notes. That will mean quite a small amount of turning the pins - check by playing a note and detuning it. Then repeat for ALL the notes, then you can wind off the tension completely.
Beware of breaking piano wires. The broken ends can do a lot of damage if they whiplash you. The safest way is not to take anything apart, except the minimum required to get at the tuining pins, before you take the tension off the strings. Then the rest of the piano will protect you if anything does break.
