Donate, dump or destroy? Finding a home for used pianos can be a challenge

Jenna Warriner didn't think it would be hard to give away a piano but she is one of a growing number of people dealing with the heartbreaking consequences of what happens to unwanted instruments.

Her piano came as a condition of sale with the house she and her partner bought near Grand Marais, Man.

Warriner no longer plays, and the huge upright wooden piano took up a lot of space. So she gave herself a one-year deadline to find it a good home.

"We listed it in multiple places. I reached out to an antique dealer because it's from 1921, it's Canadian-made, it's a beautiful instrument," said Warriner.

She reached out to schools and talked with people with connections at churches, on top of listing it in online marketplaces multiple times, she said.

"We spoke to our entire network of friends and family. We tried really hard to send it off to a good home and we couldn't find anyone who wanted it."

She even used her expertise in social media marketing to create a fun ad that she hoped would get some traction, advertising a "large shelf for sale" for $5.

"This big shelf was in our house when we bought it," the Facebook Marketplace ad read.

"The top part works great for holding stuff. Middle tier is a bit loud. It's an antique. Canadian made from 1921. For some reason it's like 800 pounds."

People responded to her humour, but there were no takers.

Finally, after two years of trying to unload her piano, she and her partner relented and carefully took it apart. Over two days, they unscrewed all the strings, ruining countless drill bits in the process.

They preserved some of the wood, which they turned into shelves, and kept some of the internal parts to make into art at a later date.

Still, Warriner felt a sense of loss.

"I just broke down crying. Like, it felt like we were murderers. It's so sad, and I feel like these are going to be relics of days gone by."

Warriner remembers a time when every house, school and church had a piano.

But "then it slowly becomes a shelf, and it slowly gets decorated at Christmas or maybe you sing carols around it," she said.

"Then it gets closed and then it goes out of tune, and they just sort of get left behind."

Go to any online sales site and you'll find dozens of ads for free pianos mostly large wooden upright instruments that are around a hundred years old. Some people will even pay you to take their piano.

'Many tears' from people giving up pianos: mover

In the past three and a half years, Martin Winiarski has gotten about 135 pianos for "disposal" from owners who just can't get rid of them.

The owner of Piano Movers Winnipeg sells the ones that are in good condition. He's given away 30 to 40 to charities who will still take them.

Winiarski figures he has had to destroy about 65 pianos, breaking them apart with a sledgehammer and cutting the strings with wirecutters.

The first one was hard, he said, but it's tougher on many of the people who have to give up their pianos.

"I've had many tears. I've had to give some hugs before," he said.

"I've had some very sentimental pianos, where they're had their piano in the family for 80 years and they were moving to an old-age home.It's hard, but it's a fact of life. He had no one to give it to."

People have to get rid of their pianos for lots of reasons they're moving, they have no one to take them, or they're too old and expensive to fix, Winiarski said.

Unwanted pianos make up about a quarter of his business. He charges $300 to $400 to move a piano, depending on what floor it's on, its size and weight, and how far it has to be moved.

WATCH | How an old piano is destroyed:

Donate, dump or destroy? Finding a home for used pianos can be a challenge

1 year ago

Duration 4:28

Martin Winiarski, the owner of Piano Movers Winnipeg, says over the past few years, he's gotten about 135 pianos for 'disposal' from owners who can't get rid of them. He sells or donates the ones he can, but figures he's had to destroy about 65.

'Free' isn't always a great deal

But is a free piano such a good deal?

Not always, according to Jay Taylor, a long-time piano tuner and technician in Winnipeg.

Tuning a piano costs about $100 to $125, and a piano might need more than one session to get it back into tune especially if it hasn't been played in a long time.

Pianos also have a lifespan. Taylor advises checking for cracks (the wood can dry out), rust or broken parts, since unexpected repairs can cost thousands of dollars.

There are also esthetic considerations people seem to prefer shiny black pianos because they fit better with modern decor, said Taylor.

As well, while a bigger piano will generally sound better that a comparable smaller model, "it seems there's much less people that want something big and ominous in their living room," he said. Digital pianos are affordable and more portable, he adds.

But Neila Suleiman has gotten a lot from her free piano. The 13-year-old Winnipegger got it from a neighbour whose mother had died. Since the neighbour already had a piano of her own, the family heirloom moved in next door.

"Piano is helping me to study more," the teen said.

"When you're doing piano you have to know the notes and know the keys and, yeah lots of discipline."

Suleiman has already had a piano recital and has become more interested in music-related programs at school. She doesn't even have to be nagged to practise, she said.

Winiarski wishes there were more people like Suleiman.

He preserves as many unwanted pianos as he can. If they have to be destroyed, he gives pieces of ornatecarved wood to artists. Other parts are passed on to piano tuners to prolong the lifespan of other instruments.

He recycles the metal, but the rest of the wood and the other parts getburned or go to the landfill.

Sadly, now that he's destroyed so many, Winiarski said it's getting easier to smash up the instruments.

"I almost shed a tear every time. It's a little emotional. You know, it's a hundred years of history, and people got a lot of enjoyment out of it.

"So it's a shame."