British musician finds his forte: saving unwanted pianos
- Tim Vincent-Smith and his team of volunteers refurbish discarded pianos and put them up for ‘adoption’
- Pianos that cannot be restored are pulled apart and turned into sculptures, furniture or art
In a deserted former department store near the port of Leith in Edinburgh, Tim Vincent-Smith reaches inside a grand piano’s open top, his fingertips lightly plucking at the taut strings.
The piano is one of hundreds rescued by the musician and his team of volunteers, as homes around Britain discard the instruments in favour of more space.
Vincent-Smith’s aim is to refurbish as many pianos as possible before putting them up for “adoption”. Those beyond repair are turned into art or furniture.
“I discovered that there were loads of pianos going to the dump and so I started making furniture – a window seat and a kind of high bed with a staircase – and then the pianos just kept on coming,” he said.
As the instruments flooded in, Vincent-Smith realised that many were still “pretty good”, and so he and his bandmate Matthew Wright decided to found Pianodrome, to rescue as many as possible.
“If you are lucky, you may find a beautiful antique piano which has a good action and tone, holds its tuning and is a pleasure to play,” he said.
“The best thing for an old piano is to find a new home.”