Definition of a "Dead Piano"

I read the Larry Fine's piano book on how long a piano can last. Pg 174 if you have the book. And he mentioned:

"...A piano may finally be considered "dead" and be discarded when the space it takes up is needed for other things, when a student outgrows the piano's ability to adequately play more advanced music, or when the resources to buy a better instrument suddenly becomes available..."

I posted this thread in the forum and got many replies from them like the ones below:-

"I am sure that "dead" means many things to many people. First of all you have to determine what your threshold for financial pain is and is it worth investing heavily in a particular instrument, if you can buy another similar or better for the same or less money.If there is NO emotional attachment, this is an easier proposition. For myself, I would consider a piano "dead" if it was an inferior brand/design and needed for instance a new soundboard. Generally, a cracked plate is the kiss of death, but I have had them repaired as well by competent welders. This would be worthwhile once again in a quality instrument, otherwise it would not be worth the risk. Many folks make a big deal about hammer replacement, but changing hammers to me anyway is akin to replacing the tires on your car. When they are worn beyond their safety limits you replace them. When hammers are filled with ruts from strings and have been shaped once, it is time for new hammers. Likewise if there is side to side motion in the keys they need to be rebushed and likely the action will need some refurb as well. This is routine maintenance stuff. Generally bass strings are good for 25 years, but many will go twice that length of time before they become tubby. During that timespan though the sound will be undergoing change and not a change for the good. This is gradual. The general decline of our instruments is indeed gradual. Depending on your skill level and your demand for a particular sound,this will determine when you can no longer stand playing a piano in a given condition. Then, you are back to the cost/benefit analysis. I own a collection of older instruments, all of which had gone beyond their useful lives, and have now been given a new lease on life. In truth, you can keep most quality instruments going indefinitely, but not without expense. Larry Fine lists his recommendations for what used brands are generally worth investing in remediation. It is not necessarily a conclusive list, but it definitely will get you on the right track. "

"Are you familiar with the "Ship of Theseus" thought-experiment? If so, you may recall that Aristotle posed a question about the perdurance of identity through change in terms of a ship whose parts were replaced with other parts, made of a different material, until one has on one hand a pile of broken "original" parts and on the other a ship comprised entirely of "new" parts. The question becomes, where is the original ship? I mention this analogy because when you asked, Steven, if a piano has to die, I started thinking that at some point (who knows when?) in the serial replacement of the materials of the piano, it becomes questionable whether one has the "same" piano that lives on or whether it is now a different piano, the initial piano being now "dead" (and in what sense so?). "

"When I was in college we had old pianos in many of the various lounges/common areas in my dormitory. Rather than throw away an old decrepit piano, some people would donate them to us. Most of these pianos would have been considered by many dead when we got them, but after a year or two of heavy pounding they would be in really bad shape -- most keys would not play, keys missing, pedals missing or broken, major damage to the case, etc. Now, rather than pay or do the work of hauling these hulks away it became traditional to throw them off the roof. The event would be advertised and the landing zone duly cordoned off. There would usually be a sizable crowd gathered to witness a piano impacting the ground and breaking into lots of little pieces. At this point I think it would be safe to say that the piano was truly dead. And, as most of the crowd would pick up a piece as a souvenir, there was really no problem with cleaning up the mess."

"Nice thread idea. Here are some more thoughts:
- An absolute like "dead" is hard to define in this case. A dead person cannot be reliably revived and restored to life (as a rule), but a piano can.
- If the piano has been burned or run through a grinding machine, it is effectively dead.
- It is dead to the owner doesn't want it any longer. People are sometimes, sadly, in this category as well - so this less absolute meaning of the word "Dead" must be considered.
- Some pianos are not worth spending the money on to completely restore, but people feel attached to them and have it done anyway. One person would look at the old heap and say it's dead, but the person who feels the attachment will not think so.
- Some old heaps are considered worthless to some, but to a person who has nothing, it will at least allow them to play! No matter how horrible and unplayable it might seem to us, someone, somewhere might feel blessed to have the piano and make use of it.
- Some pianos have the intrinsic value in the market place, and can always be brought back to life with time and fine craftsmanship. Someone, though, needs to make the decision to spend the time and money on the instrument.

As for the "Ship of Theseus" paradox, I would vote that once a new board is added to the ship, that board becomes a part of that ship. It has changed the ship's identity slightly, but we still call it "Theseus' Ship" because it's inconvenient to be so precise as to give it a new name each time it is repaired. So there is the "original" ship as it was, and the "new" ship. Both are valid and still exist, but now have different entities. Same is true for a rebuilt piano - there was the original as it shipped from the factory, which is forever gone and not absolutely recoverable. Then there is the rebuilt or restored piano, which could possible be a "better" piano than the original was!"