What To Do With Your Old Musical Instruments: Sell, Donate or Recycle

Many of us used to play a musical instrument but haven’t picked it up in forever. Or maybe you have a couple of instruments that you bought for your children, but which they gave up on once they realized they had to practice on a regular and daily basis.

No matter the reason, if you’re wondering what to do with your old musical instruments that are sitting around collecting dust, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for some helpful information about selling, donating or even recycling old musical instruments.

You know you want to get them out of your house, but you’re really not quite sure what the best way is to do that. There’s still some sentiment and use left in that old piano or Fender guitar, so you would feel horrible just tossing them out like trash.

Don’t worry, because we’re about to share some great ideas for what to do with those old musical instruments to help you get them out of your home in a guilt-free way.

First, you’ll need to decide whether to donate, recycle, or sell your instrument(s). If the instrument is in good condition and valuable enough, it may be worth your time and energy to try and sell it. However, it’s very likely that trying to sell your old violin or your child’s unused recorder just isn’t worth the effort. But it’s up to you to make that call.

Any stringed instruments or woodwinds that were purchased secondhand, or were used as band instruments may not be very valuable, but you might be able to get a little something out of them by trying to sell them on sites like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.

If you have any woodwind or brass instruments lying around that aren’t in good enough condition to sell, you can always take them to a scrap metal dealer or a junkyard to try and sell them for scrap.

It’s always a good idea to figure out what you have and do some research to find out how much your old instruments could be worth first, though. You may not realize that you could be harboring a musical instrument that is incredibly valuable.

Obviously, antique instruments in great condition and professional instruments will be more likely to bring in a pretty penny, so it’s a good idea to have these instruments appraised by a professional before putting them on the resale market.

You can also try to sell your old cello or banjo at your local music shop. Most times, music stores buy and sell used instruments, and they’ll have a much better idea of what your unwanted instruments are really worth.

If it sounds like selling your old musical instruments is just way too much trouble, you may be better off just donating them. Especially if you believe they have more sentimental value than monetary value.

Some great places to donate an old piano, organ, or just about any other instrument would be organizations such as churches, school music departments, and music programs.

Though we usually tend to think of charities like Goodwill and Salvation Army when talking about donating goods, these organizations are much more likely to have a need for your unwanted instruments.

Some organizations will accept donations of damaged musical instruments in need of small repairs, but it’s important to make sure any instruments you do donate are at least mostly in good, working condition.

You certainly don’t want to waste a charity’s time by donating an instrument that is more trouble to repair than it’s worth.

Also make sure that if any instruments you want to donate are damaged, even slightly, that you tell that to whatever group you are trying to donate them to.

Though it’s easy enough to take your used viola or trombone to the nonprofit of your choice if you are donating a large, heavy musical instrument such as a piano, an old organ, or an unwanted harp, be prepared to have to haul and drop off your donation yourself. You might get lucky and find a place that offers pickup service for such donations, but these are few and far between.

It’s no doubt that loading and transporting such musical instruments is no easy feat. Even thinking about hauling large, bulky instruments can induce a panic attack just because of the logistics involved in doing it.

You’ll more than likely have to rent the proper equipment and a hefty truck to be able to load the thing up in the first place. Then there’s the cost for gas and supplies, along with the nightmare of trying to find the time as well as at least a couple of other people to help you out.

If this is the case, it would likely be a better idea to hire a professional junk removal service that specializes in hauling items of this size and that will also donate it to a charity or organization for you.

Though this service does cost money, it will very likely come out less expensive than handling musical instrument disposal yourself. Not to mention all the time and stress that you’ll be saving yourself.

In a perfect world, someone would buy it from you and then come and pick it up. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world, and sometimes, getting rid of things we don’t need anymore costs a little money.

Finally, if your old musical instruments are too damaged to be of any use to anyone, you may just need to have them recycled.

Most instruments can be taken to your local recycling facility, especially those made primarily of wood or metal. Even metal instrument strings such as the ones from a guitar or piano can be scrapped.

Alternatively, you can use parts of your musical instruments to create some interesting folk art or home decor pieces. Maybe you have a relative who’s an audiophile; something like this would make a great gift for just about any occasion.

There are tons of ideas for these sorts of upcycled art pieces and furniture using an old or unwanted guitar or trumpet or whatever other instruments you have laying around.

For your own personal safety, we strongly recommend hiring professionals to haul large instrument such as an old piano or organ, no matter what you decide to do with them.

Otherwise, there’s a good possibility you’ll damage the instrument and make it worthless in the process of trying to get it out of your house. On top of that, you could also seriously injure yourself in the process.

When you call LoadUp and book a pick-up appointment, you get a team of thoroughly background-checked, fully insured junk hauling professionals to come and remove anything you want to get rid of from your home. Then, they haul it all away to be donated or recycled instead of dumping in the landfill.

You also have the option of home-to-truck removal at no extra charge so you don’t have to lift a finger, or if you aren’t able to be around to let the Loaders in, you can just leave the items outside for curbside pickup at a discounted rate.

LoadUp does all of the hard work at a price that’s typically 20-30% less than what most other licensed junk removal companies charge. Plus, they give you a fair and honest all-inclusive price up front, before you even book, and without the need for a “free onsite estimate” that would be a waste of your time.

With online booking, a dedicated customer support team, on-demand service, and GPS enabled tracking of your Loader crew, getting rid of that old or unwanted piano, organ, harp, electronic keyboard, or any other musical instrument couldn’t be any simpler.

Consider LoadUp as your go-to method for getting all your old junk and clutter out of your home. Call us at 844-239-7711 or book your junk removal pickup online today!

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