How to make a fake grand piano

25 Jul

So for the Dave Wallace video “Broken” I wanted to use a beat up old grand piano. It turns out old grand pianos are extremely rare in CHCH and if you do find one they are expensive. So I decided to build a fake one from an old upright. As fate would have it my next door neighbor had an old upright in his back yard!

Step 1 – Get some people who love to shift heavy things or just love being in photos

The original upright

Step 2 – Pull off the 200kg + cast iron back

Split in 2

Step 3 – Recycle what you can from the old upright

Destructing a piano

Step 4 – Add a frame (get your dad to test it)

Taking shape

Step 5 – Give it a bottom

Adding a bottom

Step 6 – Sexy it up

Sexy curves

And the final result….

The final product

We added rubber bands to every key so they actually worked.  The lid is made from all the panels of the old upright.

In the final video it looks like a fully functional grand piano.  I give it an A+

Don’t forget to check out the piano in action here.

5 Responses to “How to make a fake grand piano”

  1. d_fozzy 25. Jul, 2010 at 10:32 pm #

    mean as bay

    Reply
  2. Britain V. 18. Dec, 2011 at 3:17 am #

    About what was the overall weight of the piano at the end of the project??

    Reply
    • Logan 18. Dec, 2011 at 3:19 am #

      Hmmm….good question – was easy for 2 people to pick it up and move. 1 person could lift it if it wasn’t such a difficult shape :)

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Dave Wallace – Broken | Gorilla Pictures - 26. Jul, 2010

    [...] Check out how I made the grand piano here. [...]
  2. 10 things I googled over the break « Dzhendigi's Blog - 09. Oct, 2010

    [...] How to make a grand piano out of an upright. It’s good to know this stuff, but I’d especially like to  know if it’s possible to [...]

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