Burning a piano

I never heard of it. I'm not exactly a fan of destroying fine musical instruments on a whim.
 
Long standing tradition in combat aviation. I’ve been to many a piano burning but no one does it as well as the Brits.
 
Piperonca said:
This is something I've not seen before, but worth a thread. Comes from Ukraine.

https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/1728301123138658447?s=20
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To be clear they didn't invent it; it's an appropriation of a British custom (yes, US airmen also appropriated it). Ukrainian appropriation probably stems from the outsized influence our training footprint of their professional force, including their airmen, has had in the intervening years since the invasion. Influence which we encourage; certainly part and parcel of the proxy war effort to continue to westernize every aspect of their military culture and eventual equipment, with an eye towards NATO alignment (which I suspect will never materialize, but that's for another forum altogether).

The origin story is contested, but I lean on the camp that it was an WWI RAF derived custom that stuck, and blossomed into the generalized eulogizing ceremony it largely is today in practice.
 
I must admit to a certain amount of horror at burning an actual piano. They aren't making a lot of real pianos now and some of them cost quite a bit of money.
 
Bob Noel said:
I must admit to a certain amount of horror at burning an actual piano. They aren't making a lot of real pianos now and some of them cost quite a bit of money.
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Sac Arrow said:
I never heard of it. I'm not exactly a fan of destroying fine musical instruments on a whim.
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From what I understand, derelict uprights that can never be made to hold a tune can be found in an awful lot of houses. I know of a couple that people would be happy to see carted off and burned, or just plain carted off.
 
That's usually how they get procured on the ones I've been privy to. Folks volunteering to throw away their junk.
 
DaleB said:
From what I understand, derelict uprights that can never be made to hold a tune can be found in an awful lot of houses. I know of a couple that people would be happy to see carted off and burned, or just plain carted off.
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You can clearly see this has the makings of a derelict. Several keys down, and missing a few hammers. Wouldn't be surprised if it had more less-visible issues.
 
DaleB said:
From what I understand, derelict uprights that can never be made to hold a tune can be found in an awful lot of houses. I know of a couple that people would be happy to see carted off and burned, or just plain carted off.
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oh, believe me, I know about old unrebuildable pianos (well, unrebuildable in the sense that it isn't economical, pretty much any piano can be rebuilt).

I'm kind of hoping that we don't run out of the derelict uprights because of this piano burning thing, if you know what I mean...
 
Bob Noel said:
I'm kind of hoping that we don't run out of the derelict uprights because of this piano burning thing, if you know what I mean...
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More are lost to landfills than air force eulogies, by orders of magnitude. Your affinity for the conservation of said musical device is safe.
 
A friend in the moving business (one man show, small loads) often hauls stuff away for auctions or estate cleanouts. He says that there is practically no market for pianos, and you can hardly even give away an upright.
 
Some years ago in my wife's family (following a death) there was a magnificent, huge 100 year old upright that couldn't be given away. Nobody wanted it. Same for my mother's 50 year old piano. Had to pay for it to be hauled off. Sad, but that's the way it is it seems.
 
ateamer said:
A friend in the moving business (one man show, small loads) often hauls stuff away for auctions or estate cleanouts. He says that there is practically no market for pianos, and you can hardly even give away an upright.
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My BIL has an old upright that my late FIL restored many many years ago. The piano is beautiful, with gorgeous wood. Unfortunately, the soundboard is badly cracked. The cost to replace a soundboard is astronmical, making the piano practically worthless. If not for sentimental value, it would already be in a landfill.

Sidenote - not sure if this is still going on, but when I was active on guitar forums the luthiers would buy some of these old worthless pianos to salvage the soundboards. Supposedly they were often of quality tonewoods and made great wood for acoustic guitars, mandolins, violins, etc.
 
I have an upright Mathushek that's quite old. It still plays well and I haven't found any evidence of internal damage. Still, it needs strings and it's out of tune enough to make my skin crawl to play at it for very long ...
 
I've got a square grand from the 1800's that was bought along with other antiques that were negotiated in the purchase of a home owned by an antique dealer. It was an emotional purchase on behalf of the wife. I think the husband of the dealer secretly was relieved that he did not have to spend the money for diesel to get that sucker lit. It now is our problem as it won't stay in tune, smells of moldy wood and is in the way....like a few tied down aircraft I have seen. :rolleyes:
 
robin ardoin said:
I've got a square grand from the 1800's that was bought along with other antiques that were negotiated in the purchase of a home owned by an antique dealer. It was an emotional purchase on behalf of the wife. I think the husband of the dealer secretly was relieved that he did not have to spend the money for diesel to get that sucker lit. It now is our problem as it won't stay in tune, smells of moldy wood and is in the way....like a few tied down aircraft I have seen. :rolleyes:
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Gut the internals and replace with an electronic keyboard.
 
Half Fast said:
Gut the internals and replace with an electronic keyboard.
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I've seen people gut the square grand and turn it into a desk. others have been used as a work bench.
 
Anyone want an electric keyboard or desk ex square grand kit? I'll pay you to take it off my hands! Maybe someone with a Cherokee 300 that wants to recreate a nostalgic ad? Takers??? ;)
 
Back in my real estate days, I had a seller leave one behind- on purpose… too hard to move. Caused quite an issue after closing…
 
My MIL has an old upright piano that is pretty poor shape, musically, and only functions as a piece of décor. Badly out of tune, but that doesn't stop my kids from pounding away on it, which often elicits squawking from the MIL about "not playing on the piano because you might damage it" lol. She also has two old Wurlitzer record machines that also do not work. Nothing like nostalgic junk taking up space in the house! I'd happily set that piano on fire, along with the mid-80's Jaguar XJS sitting in her barn that hasn't moved an inch since the 90s.
 
Odd custom. No indication of a closed runway. Seems a bit unsafe to play a burning piano.
 
Piperonca said:
Apparently it’s been a thing for decades. Who knew?

https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2003206359/#:~:text=The piano burning tradition started,the piano in his honor.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_burning
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Whenever we hosted another NATO Tiger Squadron in England, my squadron, 79TFS, would purchase an old, beat up upright piano, and smash it into pieces small enough to pass through a toilet seat, and burn the pieces. We would gather around the fire and sing fighter pilot songs and trade stories of our legendary skills as airmen. Good times and it solidified our NATO alliance. TIGER, TIGER, RORRRRRR! I was a Tiger from 1982 to 1986 at RAF Upper Heyford.
 
Huckster79 said:
Back in my real estate days, I had a seller leave one behind- on purpose… too hard to move. Caused quite an issue after closing…
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My father grew up in the NYC in the 30's. Everybody left their pianos behind, because once you got it up to the third or fourth floor, there was no moving it. The new tenants expected it, because most families had at least one piano player.
 
I find burning a piano heartbreaking, though I did burn the wooden ladder my father fell from and died.

Pianos, piano tuners, and piano techs have a place in my heart. I've help move A LOT of pianos. One of best friends is a piano technician extraordinaire. He's been at it for 45 years. He can rebuild just about anything. In my youth, I wrote a scale design program we used to increase the sound quality of otherwise okay pianos. It's on my CV.

For your amusement, a 40-year trip down memory lane ...

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com
 
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