Well hear is a somewhat older project that I'm particularly proud of. One of my neighbors was give an old piano and since she didn't play, she was wondering exactly what to do with it. Since her and her husband entertain a lot, someone came up with the idea of converting it to a bar of sorts. She was aware that I was a woodworker of sorts and had made her a few things, she naturally thought of yours truly. Being a good neighbor and wanting a challenge, she asked me if I might consider taking on such a project. Having never done anything like this before, I gladly accepted the opportunity to get into something way over my head. . . I couldn't say YES fast enough. Well the next thing I knew, her and a group of friends were rolling this thing down the street and in to my shop, (garage). I think they had been prematurely "breaking in" the future Piano Bar. . .
It was definitely a learning experience and quickly became an obsession of mine. I was basically given a clean slate to do whatever I wanted with no "limitations".
As the pictures show, I added wine glass storage, countless LED lighting with fancy color changing, below the key board liquor storage, a pullout drawer under the keyboard, (that was kinda tricky). Converted the three pedals to produce separate functions like on/off some of the lights, open the lower cabinet doors and open the top exposing the "harp" and all the strings. I had also concealed a few micro switches in a few places to create different effects with the lighting and some sounds. It seemed as though the more I did the more ideas I had. Finally I had to just call it quits because my neighbor wanted her Piano bar back. I can't blame her though.
All in all, it turned out to be a real fun project and would definitely want to do something like this again. From what I've learned, piano's like this aren't that hard to find and still in reasonably good condition for next to nothing or even free. People just want to get rid of them.
It is visually interesting leaving the harp in. I probably would not have, it's heavy and takes up a lot of space.
The pedal functions are a nice touch.
I have half-heartily considered such a project. Free pianos are everywhere. I recently got an antique pump organ that I will attempt to turn into a desk. With secret compartments. Maybe a bar? Thanks for stimulating my creativity.
I'm probly going to let you down but, I swear I won't keep you down. John Hiatt
Nice job Donald. Does it still play. I can just imagine a bunch of drunks banging on the keys. It would be funny if it were one of those $30k rare pianos. I think the one you worked on was Billy Joel’s
1.) I don’t know if it is/ was one of those mega-dollar pianos. How do you tell? I’d like to research it now.
2.) Yes the piano did still okay when it left my care. All you had to do was lift the glass a little and you could tickle the ivory’s. ( Yes they were the original keys of ivory. I heard later that the neighbor was thinking about taking the key action from just after the keys all the way to the felt hammers out and doing some of wall art thingie with them.
3.) Live the player piano idea. Might try and talk her into it as a “rebuild” project.
Again guys, really appreciate all the good “reviews” and support. Wait till you guys feast your eyeballs on my hall table with the drop- down panel for concealing certain “tools” the client uses in his day job. He’s a ATF Agent! Gonna be cool if I can get it to work properly.
I did just a 3 minute google search on how to estimate the value. First step is to figure what model or at least if it has a serial number. The information is probably in the upper right hand corner of the harp (aka plate) but it could be located in several different areas. Most of the websites want to charge you to do an appraisal but you can probably at least find out when it was made if you can find a serial number. If it does not have a serial number (or it is below 13000 anyway) then it may be before 1900 according to one website I saw. I would try using ChatGPT to see if it can give you more information.
I really think that you should look into and convince them to do the player piano conversion.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
