Thousands of pianos are being sent to the scrap-heap despite having the ability to still tug at our heartstrings, Paul Kendall discovers.
For a second, the JCB’s claw hangs in the air, a metal vulture waiting to swoop. Then, with a jolt, the giant yellow arm jabs forward and lands on top of the piano. Wood splinters and the instrument tips backwards, hitting the ground with a tuneless clang.
Its wooden casing breaks open, exposing its strings, and the claw delves inside to pick out the piano’s soundboard. Metal screeches on metal.
One leg flies off, another skids across the yard. Within five minutes, all that’s left is a pile of matchwood, an iron brace and a tangle of rusting strings.
This place, a recycling depot on the outskirts of Bristol, is just one site where pianos come to die. Similar scenes are taking place all over Britain as more and more owners send their instruments for scrap.
Piano-dealers, house-removal firms and manufacturers all confirm the trend.
It’s an ignominious end for something that — more than any other piece of household furniture — embodies years of family memories.
“Our customers sometimes get quite upset,” says Jon Kelly. “Pianos have often been passed through generations of one family and have great sentimental value. We’ve been on jobs where people cry when the piano’s taken away.”
On one recent occasion, says Mr Kelly, a husband had passed away. He was a musician and, although his piano would have doubled as the perfect monument to his life, his widow was moving to a smaller property and didn’t have the space to take it with her. “She was so upset she couldn’t watch when we took it away,” says Mr Kelly.
How sad...
Full article here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...the-piano.html
For a second, the JCB’s claw hangs in the air, a metal vulture waiting to swoop. Then, with a jolt, the giant yellow arm jabs forward and lands on top of the piano. Wood splinters and the instrument tips backwards, hitting the ground with a tuneless clang.
Its wooden casing breaks open, exposing its strings, and the claw delves inside to pick out the piano’s soundboard. Metal screeches on metal.
One leg flies off, another skids across the yard. Within five minutes, all that’s left is a pile of matchwood, an iron brace and a tangle of rusting strings.
This place, a recycling depot on the outskirts of Bristol, is just one site where pianos come to die. Similar scenes are taking place all over Britain as more and more owners send their instruments for scrap.
Piano-dealers, house-removal firms and manufacturers all confirm the trend.
It’s an ignominious end for something that — more than any other piece of household furniture — embodies years of family memories.
“Our customers sometimes get quite upset,” says Jon Kelly. “Pianos have often been passed through generations of one family and have great sentimental value. We’ve been on jobs where people cry when the piano’s taken away.”
On one recent occasion, says Mr Kelly, a husband had passed away. He was a musician and, although his piano would have doubled as the perfect monument to his life, his widow was moving to a smaller property and didn’t have the space to take it with her. “She was so upset she couldn’t watch when we took it away,” says Mr Kelly.
How sad...
Full article here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...the-piano.html
Comment