I’m leaning against some 1911 piano parts as I type this. A friend in a 3rd floor condo got a free piano off of Craigslist. Same story as yours, except that one day, he sends me an email asking if I had a power saw that could cut up a piano. My response was, “Is this a trick question?”
Some hippie artist came and got the keys and soundboard parts for a project, I took the big pieces of wood for furniture (the parts I’m leaning against aren’t ‘furniture’ - they’re just leaning against the kitchen wall for now), and he burned some of the innards in his fireplace.
I discovered it was black spraypaint (professionally done, not from little cans), over white lacquer (spraypaint again) over mahogany veneer. I know about furniture and paint, but my piano lessons were completely wasted on me. I’ve always wondered if all that paint affected its sound.
