Scott Joplin for a Young Elephant

9 years ago
445

Info From Licensor: "About this time last year much of Thailand (including us in Bangkok) was submerged under muddy floodwater, the most severe flooding in recorded history.

The upright piano in this video was completely submerged under floodwater at the Elephant Kraal in Ayutthaya - not only once, but two times, for many months at a stretch. http://www.elephantstay.com

After floods receded, the piano was deemed by numerous piano technicians as completely in-salvageable, so the owner reluctantly rolled it outside his house to dispose of it.

The owner of the Elephant Kraal had a sentimental attachment to the piano for various reasons, including a memory that the daughter of the Princess of Thailand had passed by and played it. During a recent stay at the Kraal I couldn't resist trying a Heath Robinson piano-fix for him using what I could find around me - the story of its crude repair is in a separate video. To my surprise, the piano was reasonably playable at the end of 12 hours work, all watery-things considered.

Soi, a young elephant friend of ours, came by for a listen.

Fixing hopeless pianos is a lot of fun I discovered -- and now the piano has been rolled back in the house again."

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