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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45
Scavenger Music reclaimed timber specialist.
Scavenger
Frets: 146
Hi,
my name is Dom and I make guitars and basses from reclaimed timber, notably from old pianos.
It's a long story but in a nutshell : I have worked in musical instrument manufacture, repair , retail and performance for 30 years. Last year I relocated to Dorset and started to hone what had been a hobby into what I hope will be a viable business. I'd been working in a shop that sold pianos and thought it was a shame when a piano was scrapped , had a brief meeting with a sledge hammer it was then thrown into a skip.
So far I've concentrated on classic designs but I have plans for original shapes and styles. At the moment I'm building a new workshop (until now I've been working in half of my mother's garden shed) but when it's complete I'll get back to guitar making and post some build diaries here.
Although I've always owned a guitar I was primarily bass player until I accidentally became lead guitarist in a glam punk band in 2019
Please check out my website and facebook page (some old build diaries on facebook) links in my profile.
Dom
my name is Dom and I make guitars and basses from reclaimed timber, notably from old pianos.
It's a long story but in a nutshell : I have worked in musical instrument manufacture, repair , retail and performance for 30 years. Last year I relocated to Dorset and started to hone what had been a hobby into what I hope will be a viable business. I'd been working in a shop that sold pianos and thought it was a shame when a piano was scrapped , had a brief meeting with a sledge hammer it was then thrown into a skip.
So far I've concentrated on classic designs but I have plans for original shapes and styles. At the moment I'm building a new workshop (until now I've been working in half of my mother's garden shed) but when it's complete I'll get back to guitar making and post some build diaries here.
Although I've always owned a guitar I was primarily bass player until I accidentally became lead guitarist in a glam punk band in 2019
Please check out my website and facebook page (some old build diaries on facebook) links in my profile.
Dom
www.scavengermusic.co.uk
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It would be great to see some pics of the whole process from Piano to guitar(s)
Instagram
https://www.facebook.com/Scavenger-Music-697594160378026/photos
(The tartan one is mine
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
I've no idea what wood pianos were built from, there was one in our house growing up and in the end I think my parents had to pay someone to scrap it. There was certainly a fair amount of wood plus all the strings and the iron frame.
I somewhat doubt that the keyboard was actual ebony and ivory. Inlays made from reclaimed piano keys?
The majority of pianos are made from poplar with various veneers. It's fine for bodies but not quite as hard as I'd like for necks. I read somewhere that Danelectro use poplar but for what parts I don't know. You do occasionally get oak , beech , walnut and other unknown timbers that I reserve for necks.
If your piano was made pre 1930 the likelihood us that the white keys had ivory tops , the black keys are pretty much always ebony , you do get stained wood of bacolite on cheaper pianos. I use ebony for dot markers but not ivory. I just think it looks better in an elephant's mouth no matter how old it is. Old ivories are still used to patch up restored pianos so they aren't thrown away.
(Fingers crossed that the link works ...)
I've had a busy afternoon working on the neck, oak with walnut fretboard. frets in, levelled , crowned and polished despite my Dremel giving up in the heat!
https://flic.kr/p/2mdboSW
https://flic.kr/p/2mddZZS
https://flic.kr/p/2mde1ar
https://flic.kr/p/2mdfqyR
The ebony for the front dots is from black piano keys turned on a lathe, 6mm for guitars , 8mm for basses. I have made side dots too but not again, turning brittle ebony down to 2mm is more trouble that it's worth.
I've seen a lot of sample sets of treated pianos, etc. with strings being struck with all sorts of things
Just wondered if someone would want one mounted vertically on a wall
My guitars start at £550
I'm hoping to use this as the front of a thinline I'm working on.
The guitar's excellent as well, of course
The body is oak at the front , poplar with veneer at the back .Those black dots are wormholes that were under the veneer of the piano and partially filled with the glue used to stick it on so they were there when the donor piano was made.
the neck and fretboard are beech, the fretboard is also from a piano but the neck is part of a bed and a relative junior comparted to most of the wood i use at a mere 20 years old.