Project 653421 - Bass made from old piano wood & parts.

So as you picked up on from my ivory question thread, I was given an old piano. More specifically just some bits of an old piano. The main frame section which holds the hammers, the keys and the hinged section.

Now, the hinge section is a fairly cheap wood, probably pine with a fancy veneer. Which isn't much use.
The keys are most likely made from basswood, with ebony and ivory toppers.

However the cross beam sections are made from a hardwood. I am not 100% sure what, I have seen some suggestions that it might be mahogany or maple, but it looks more like beech to me.

Inspired by the Rick Toone guitars and some guitars made from old ammo crates I decided there was a fun build to be had in using this wood and parts.

The plan is to basically use as much of the piano wood as possible. Using Ebony for the nut, bridge, knobs etc. I might even add in a built in mute function using the original piano mutes.

I am thinking that the cross beams will glue up to make an upper shell, then the basswood will glue up to make a bottom shelf with an air gap clean between. Hard to describe but its inspired buy a few of the Rick Toone builds.

Here are two designs so far, traditional p-bass shape, or custom 'toone-inspired' ergonomic design.



And here is a close up of the wood and the awesome model/name which I plan to try and keep intact.
Any suggestions on what the wood is would be great! I will be using the wood regardless, but it would be nice to know what it is. It looks like beech to me, but doesn't feel heavy enough to me.

 

It does splinter a little bit. I have found some variants of mahogany that have the little short grainy things in online. It just doesn't smell like mahogany to me.
Having cleaned up some of the sides I can see a slight 'holographic effect' which is what I normally use to identify mahogany, do any other hardwoods have that sort of holographic shiny look?

 

Yeah, I like those, rather than just taking wood, planing it, sanding it etc to make good stock for a build, actually letting the wood inspire and drive the design etc.

Some of the sections have angled sides I am going to use to give the whole front block a nice arch. Then the holes I am going to put all the original flat head screws back into.

Here as some photos of some of the inspiration for the build.

These guitars are what made me think about making the old makers stamp a feature. Gonna try and keep any of the pencil marks etc too.


This Rick Toone build gave me the idea of having a sort of floating 'tone block' for the top, then a sturdy base section.

 

And here are some more shots of the wood, I have arranged them so as to show off how they will be glued together in order to make the arched tone block. Included is a quick line showing that shape. You can also see that some of channeling on the wood is the perfect spot to basically give you a thumb rest clean down the body.

You can also see the end grain of the freshly cut sections. Which might help with identification a little more.

 

Afraid not! Otherwise I would totally be taking a leaf out of your book with using them for tuning. I was only given the section with the hammers, then the keys. As I knew there would be ebony on the keys and the hammers were a pretty nice thing to have. (Good to use for percussion and such).

I was actually given the piano parts many many months ago before I had seen anything of your awesome use for them!

 

Now wait a minute! My thread, I would like at least 4 to use in this build if possible.

Before other people hog them all!

 

Everything about this bass is going to be really mellow, pick up near the neck, peizo pick ups, old wood, floating tone block.

Gonna be so laid back.

I would have liked to use some of the other wood to make a neck. However it is mostly softwood. All my hardwood will be going into the body.

The way the body connects to the neck will easily allow for a new neck, so perhaps in the future there is room for it.

Interestingly one of the softwood sections is actually the right shape and profile for a neck when glued together. Perhaps I should try something with a metal frame, Kramer style.