Pianos and vegetarianism

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Just wondering if we have any resident piano experts, and how folks have

dealt with vegetarian issues and old pianos? We're going this afternoon

to look at a used piano we're interested in, and are debating the ethics

of potential non-vegetarian components - older pianos have the

possibility of having antique ivory key covers (pre-1960's), hide glue,

felt pads that may be wool, etc. So, I'm also wondering: (1) what other

non-vegetarian things might be involved in a piano? (2) Has anyone else

bought a piano and re-keyed it with the currently-used plastic covers,

and did that turn out well? (3) Are new pianos totally vegetarian? (4)

How do you, as vegetarian piano owners, feel about non-vegetarian pianos

in your homes?

 

If there is an expert on the list, the piano is an Ellington upright,

and likely from the pre-1930's lot, rather than the post-2002 lot of

pianos manufactured with the Ellington name. It's owned by a family who

has had it 5 years, hasn't tuned it or played it a lot in that time,

know little to nothing about it, and they bought it from a thrift store,

so we know no more history on it. One key doesn't work, but she says it

sounds tuned - we'll see today. :-)

 

We're grappling with ethics on this since the ivory would bother us a

lot . . . but we still have wool sweaters and coats in the closet and

bone china we inherited from our pre-vegetarian days . . . and we eat

cheese in restaurants that nearly necessarily contains rennet . . . so

we understand that we're being hypocritical . . . so discussing this

every day. :-) I've wanted a piano for years, our son is interested in

learning with me to play, and it might be a super good deal . . . or it

might be a money pit that makes us build an altar to elephants. Geez,

ignorance a few days ago was bliss . . . when our biggest concern was

what sheet music to buy first. :-)

 

Thanks for any input!

Lorraine