Are pianos vegan?

Historically, musical instruments have been made out of some very-not-vegan materials. Animal oils, hair, fur, even internal organs were - and in some cases still are - used in a variety of musical instruments. Back in the olden days, pianos were no exception, with keys made from ivory, felts made from rabbit fur or wool, not to mention leather, suede, and other animal derived materials used throughout the instrument.

Fortunately, we vegan pianists can rejoice in the fact that ivory stopped being used on piano keys in the 1970s when ivory trading became illegal (yay!). Nowadays piano keys are made mostly of wood and plastic. Yamaha even developed a synthetic material called Ivorite which imitates the feel of ivory without the cruelty (or the illegality).

Now that we know that the keys are usually vegan, what about the rest of the piano? I admit this is something I had not even considered until recently. Anyone who has ever looked inside an acoustic piano knows that it is a complicated instrument with many different parts made of various materials. What are the odds that the inside of your piano has materials derived from animals?

Well, there’s a whole lot of wool felt in there, and probably some leather, suede, and silk cord, too. And don’t forget the bench–which might be covered in more leather.

So is your acoustic piano vegan? Probably not, and there doesn’t seem to be any “vegan piano” on the market…yet. Perhaps as people become more aware of the ugly origins of animal derived materials, crafters of musical instruments will move towards replacing them with cruelty-free substitutes. After all, the fact that sheep intestines are no longer commonplace in string instruments is a good sign. On the other hand, I did just stumble upon a Macedonian bagpipe that appears to be made from a hollowed out goat corpse. I’ll spare you from the link for that one.