There’s just one (big) problem – pianos are extremely heavy and need and expert removal. You also need to find a place to dispose of your piano, and that can be tough. Most rubbish centres do not accept old pianos, and councils reject them for bulky waste collection.

Of course, it’s sometimes possible to restore and revitalise an older piano. The Piano Removal Company is always happy to advise on tips and suggestions to prolong your piano’s lifespan. But when the time comes to say goodbye, we’re also here to remove and recycle your piano safely.

Three Reasons You Should Recycle Your Old Piano

There are plenty of reasons why you should recycle your old piano – here are our top three.

1. It’s the easiest way to dispose of a piano – Give your local dump or recycling centre a call and ask them about disposing of your piano – you’ll soon find out just how hard it is. Not only are pianos awkward, bulky, and heavy, it takes considerable manpower to break them down. You can stop searching in vain! It’s a lot easier to have the experts at The Piano Removal Company swing by your home and take care of the entire process for you. From pick-up to thorough to recycling, it costs less and takes a lot less hassle to have us sort everything out for you.
2. It’s easier on the environment – No one wants to contribute to the destruction of our planet. That’s why so many people pride themselves on their in-home recycling bins and attempts to use less ‘throwaway’ packaging. So, when it comes time to say farewell to your piano, why not put the same principles into practice? We recycle 95% of the instrument – very little goes to waste. What little waste material is then woodchipped or metal smelted via a recycling centre.
3. Parts of your piano may get a second lease on life – Of course, it’s always easier on the planet to reuse existing materials. We salvage all useable components and parts from your piano and ensure that they find good homes. You can smile and think fondly, knowing that parts of your piano are going on to help make beautiful music.

Recycling Your Old Piano is a Smart Choice

You don’t have to spend ages searching for a disposal option for your old piano. Make a smart choice you can be proud of and give our expert team a call for a custom quote.

1. The piano was invented in Italy in invented in 1698 Bartolomeo Cristofori.
2. Pianos have more than 12,000 parts, 10,000 of which are moving.
3. The piano is nicknamed “The King of Instruments” mainly for its wide tonal range.
4. The piano can reach the lowest note of the contrabassoon and the highest note of the piccolo. No other orchestral instrument can match this range.
5. Piano inventor Bartolomeo Cristofori made only a few pianos, preferring to focus on the harpsichord.
6. Cristofori called his invention the “gravicèmbalo col piano e forte,” which translates from the Italian as “harpsichord with loud and soft” and was then shortened to pianoforte.
7. A concert grand piano weighs over 1400 lbs and is 8’11”
8. Piano maker Challen, who originally manufactured in England, made the world’s longest grand piano. It was 11′ 8″, with 30 tons of string tension and weighed 2000 lbs.
9. Piano keys were made from ivory (hence the phrase, “tickle the ivories”), until the 1950s, where the expense, and environmental costs made manufacturers switch to plastic keys.
10. The tension of the strings on an upright is more than 18 tons. For concert grand pianos, the tension is more than 30 tons.
11. Henry Steinway was born Engelhard Steinweg, but changed his name after arriving in the US and starting his piano company.
12. The piano is considered to be in the percussion family because it only makes noise when a hammer hits a string.
13. ‘Piano’ is short for ‘pianoforte’, the full Italian name for the instrument.
14. The Steinway family has been making pianos since 1853.
15. There are 88 keys on a piano, made up of 36 black keys and 52 white keys.
16. 70% of a piano is made of wood.
17. A standard upright is at least 51” tall, while a console style is 42”. The smaller “spinet” can be just 3 feet tall.
18. Pianos generally have 220-230 strings.
19. Yamaha started production in 1887 and was the first Japanese piano manufacturer.
20. On a standard 88-note keyboard, the first note is A, while the last note is C.

Interesting article below for anyone wishing to purchase a Steinway, however you will have to be quick as the sale starts tomorrow!

STEINWAY & SONS YEAR-END SAVINGS EVENT 24, 25 & 26th January 2013 at Steinway Hall, London

Each year the Steinway & Sons Factory schedules a price increase which reflects the actual increase in the cost of manufacture and materials. This increase is what allows Steinway & Sons to continue building the best piano possible.

Select from the finest piano inventory including:

New Steinway, Boston & Essex pianos and like new showroom models.

• 2012 Steinway Model B 211cm Grand in Ebony Gloss

• 2010 Steinway Model K 132cm Upright in Ebony Gloss

• 1980 Steinway Model M 170cm Grand in Ebony Satin Fully Restored

• 2011 Boston UP 118 Upright in Walnut Gloss

• 2008 Boston GP 163 Grand in Ivory Gloss

• 2009 Essex EGP 173 Grand in Mahogany Gloss

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Piano removal and disposal is now a big subject. Following on from our article in the Telegraph paper on Sunday we were asked to speak to the presenter of a BBC Three Counties Radio programme to provide our opinion on just why so many old pianos are now being disposed of?

It`s an easy question to answer, a lot of these old pianos are becoming increasingly difficult to play with issues like sticking notes, not holding tuning pitch and most of these older upright and grand pianos were made circa 1920`s for the mass market and not necessarily meant to last for more than 100 years!

Modern pianos

Now we have very affordable new upright pianos for sale from £1895 & new Kawai digital pianos from £599, so it is not just the more youthful end of the spectrum that is keeping piano playing alive. Adult beginners regularly come into our sister company, The piano showroom in Bath (www.thepianoshopbath.co.uk) wanting to know how to get started on the piano. There is perhaps a greater passion for the music in later years and learning can be more enjoyable, no longer just a case of endless scales and arpeggios!

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As we specialise in all piano related areas including piano sales and piano event hire see our sister companies www.thepianoshopbath.co.uk www.directpianohire.co.uk we were able to provide a balanced view of the current trend to dispose of the instruments that are no longer worth restoring. The more prestigious makes i.e. Steinway and Bechstein are often well worth the re-investment and as a result are often re-built.

The event, at the Baker House dormitory in Cambridge, US, marks the last day students can drop classes without them appearing on college reports.

Around 200 onlookers watched as the piano crashed on to a second baby grand piano six floors below. Many then rushed to get souvenirs.

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Piano tuning involves listening to the sound of two notes being played simultaneously. Playing the two notes at the same time creates a wobbling sound, known as a beat – the tuners detect the minute changes in frequency of this beat and adjust the notes so they sound in tune.

Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL and Newcastle University have discovered such intense listening changes the structure of piano tuners’ brains, after testing 19 professional piano tuners and 19 controls. This includes the grey matter, where information processing takes place, and the white matter, where the nerve connections are made.

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