Piano Blaster (Piano to Bluetooth Soundsystem Conversion)

by IccyR

1.5K95

Intro: Piano Blaster (Piano to Bluetooth Soundsystem Conversion)

I was out delivering for my day job at the start of lock down and came across an old Console Piano dumped at the side of the road. Console Piano's are a lot smaller and manageable than their full sized cousins. Because I was in a van I drove around the block wheeled it over and tipped it into the on it's back (this would be almost impossible to do singlehandedly with a full sized piano).

While driving about thinking what I could upcycle it into I had the idea of a Jamaican styled beach piano that in my dreams would be a sound system rather than a piano but the kind of thing you may find outside a bar in a Jamaican shanty town.

STEP 1:

The first part was to remove all the internals but I was wanting to keep the keys and lid in place.
I used a cordless grinder with a cutting wheel to cut through the strings and then went to work unbolting and unscrewing everything else until I was able to pull the harp out through the top. I then removed the main part of the wooden frame to cut down the weight saving just enough to keep it solid and refitted the remaining section.

At this point I used wood glue on the rear ends of the keys to stop them vibrating and screwed the pedals into a fixed position, I also glued anything that looked like it may rattle or buzz

I stripped out the old speakers and proceeded to make the lower panel to hold the Bass Drivers from the chipboard (the original panel was split and rather flimsy hence I resorted to chipboard)

Next I removed the mouldings from the top panel and cut out the horn openings, screwed the keyboard lid into the open position and cut out the hole for the Head Unit.

A half hearted rub down with a rough grade sandpaper (I still want a shabby chic beach bar look), masked the keys and the pedals then 3 cans of Ivory Rust-Oleum Ivory as a primer followed by 1 each of Red,Gold and Green to finish.

Next I screwed all the speakers into position and was able to use their original wiring to connect them up. I then fitted the Car Head Unit into the Lid and wired it as specified in the Instruction Booklet.

Finally I enclosed the back using the last of the chipboard and wheeled it into my Breakfast Room.

3 Comments

huffpuffr 3 years ago

you should put this in the rainbow contest.

IccyR 3 years ago

ah thanks for the heads up, cheers