wacky crazy off topic piano question

[mvr1127]

I need to apologize cause this is an off topic and really unusual question but I thought perhaps someone here may have some helpful info for me.

Can you safely remove a soundboard from a piano and apply it to another surface for decoration?

I am a composer for trailers, tv shows, etc and have been around the community and on this forum for a bit. I have family members who are also in the music business, and we started a family wine business about 10 years ago. Everything about our brand is music themed, and we are now in the process of opening a tasting room. I am looking to have a bar built, and without describing it in too much detail, the idea is to have a couple of piano soundboards applied to the face of the bar and lit in cool ways. There will be glass or some transparent surface over top so no one can accidentally kick it or otherwise touch it.

I'm guessing I'd have to go with an upright Spinnet or some such small piano since the bar will probably be about 42"-48" high, but are there any piano gurus out there who know how difficult it would be to remove a soundboard from a piano and then somehow safely bolt or attach it to a wooden surface?

And that's my wacky question. :-)

[David Ferris]

You might want to try this question on the Tech's forum at Piano World.

[Leaf]

I would recomend trying to buy a new or old but never installed soundboard, because the one in the piano is going to have wooden ribs glued to the back of it. Without the ribs, it will be very thin (around 1/4" to 5/16") and i think that would be easy to apply to some surface. And a new one would likely be unfinished but already prepped for finish. Modern polyurethane finishes would be very durable, much more than an older laquer finish. The spruce, that the soundboard is made of, is planked (made from strips of various widths about 6" to 12' wide depending on brand, and it would be difficult to remove the ribs without separation of the planks i think, unless you are a very experience woodworker with all the tools. Probably some piano supply company would have soundboards, or maybe you could talk a piano manufacturer into selling you one.

Hope this info is helpful, I like your idea though.

PS: be forewarned that a piano has several tons of tension on the strings and the structural strength to hold all that is not just from the metal harplike frame, but is in the frame while it is securely bolted to the piano itself. It is dangerous to remove it while under tension and before removal srings should be loosened only in a proper sequence. Plus i think the pinblock would have to be removed before the soundboard, but i'm not sure about that.

David:hp: