Animal materials in a piano

[cheap_piano_a]

Hello!
Recently came to know that pianos are not vegan friendly. I thought you have only wood and metal in them.

1. I would like to know what animal parts are used in a modern acoustic piano apart from wool felt, hide glue or animal based glue, leather?
I am more concerned about leather.

2. Do digital pianos use any animal products?

I am interested in Kawai and Yamaha acoustic pianos and Kawai, Yamaha and Roland for digital ones.

3. Can hybrids like Yamaha AvantGrand and Kawai Novus series have animal products as their action mimick an acoustic one.

I know very few or none of you will have any concern over this. Yet I hope you guys can throw some light on this topic without trolling me.

Thanks

[timothy42b]

I think it depends on what "made from"  means.  Digitals are largely plastic, which is made from oil, which once upon a time was plants and marine animals.  So in a roundabout way I guess a digital is made from animals too but it seems pretty remote to me.

Acoustic pianos do have hide glue, felt, and if very old could even have ivory on the keys, though that hasn't been legal for some time.  The finish could be animal derived possibly.  Shellac comes from insects. 

Pipe organs would have large amounts of leather and wax. 

[lelle]

I think you may be able to send an email to specific manufacturers/resellers to get info if there are animal parts in the products. Both acoustic and digital instruments sell for a lot of money so they tend to be happy to help giving potential customers the information they need to take the leap and make a purchase. My assumption is that digital instruments should be pretty vegan since they are usually made from wood, plastic and metal. But I don't know if some small amount of stuff made from animals go into those too.

[j_tour]

Probably more vegan than catgut or horsehair.

Those string players are bastards.

My assumption is that digital instruments should be pretty vegan since they are usually made from wood, plastic and metal. But I don't know if some small amount of stuff made from animals go into those too.

Yeah, maybe, but although oleoresins are largely plant-based, the carbon footprint that goes into manufacturing these devices is immense.  No, there is generally not animal hide directly observable in digital keyboards, but the environmental cost of their production is immense, although perhaps offset by the relatively small quantities in which they are produced.

Even if in an acoustic piano made today there are small amounts of animal matter used to create felts, and other parts of the action, in addition to many other kinds of animal by-products, I would not call the modern piano vegan in any sense of the word.

No, I'm not trolling:  it's an interesting question, but difficult to answer.

[timothy42b]

Drums can have animal skin heads, right?  I imagine most are plastic, but those are sort of animal derived too.

I play trombone, and that's mostly brass, which as pointed out has a high carbon footprint.  But there are lubricants involved, and a small felt ring at the top of the slide. 

Most woodwind instruments have keys with pads glued on, usually with shellac which is an animal product. 

Interesting question, and one I hadn't thought of.