A second life for musical instruments

It’s the moment you never forget.

Your normally miracle-working repairer has given a rueful shake of the head and pronounced that there’s no more they can do. The local stop-at-nothing music charity has politely declined your donation. Now, you have to face the truth.

After all those years together filled with love, joy, hope, triumph and sometimes frustration, your beloved musical instrument isn’t going to make it.

Don’t despair though, because as ABC Classic audiences have demonstrated, retired musical instruments have a rare capacity for reinvention.

Keyboards

Just look at the shape of pianos, organs, harmoniums and similar keyboard instruments and let your imagination run wild. Of course, your family heirloom could become a desk, a drinks cabinet, a bookshelf, a wall unit, or even a fold-out child’s bed.

• “I recently donated our old piano to our local Woodworkers Guild. It was an emotional day. I kept the actual keys for myself to use in future art works, and the woodworkers will turn the front legs into candlesticks. I can’t wait to see how the rest will be reused. This piano will live on!” – Leandra
• “I once saw an upright piano used as a fish tank. It was pretty epic.” – Rob
• “The previous owners of our home used the inner string framework of a piano as a wall decoration on a carport wall. It looks great.” – Marilyn
• “I once worked in a school where the innards of a piano had been turned into a feature wall.” – Chris

• “We have a 150-year-old burled walnut full-sized concert Bechstein Grand Piano that belonged to my husband's grandmother. He uses it as a stand-up desk, but I still get it tuned every year!” – Anne

  

Wind instruments

Wind instruments are generally long and thin and they’re interesting to look at. In fact, they’re often downright beautiful, so why not turn their narrow tubes into lampstands, use their intriguingly-shaped keys as jewellery, or just make the entire instrument a decorative feature in your home?

• “Flutes make useful hat stands.” – Leanne
• “Saxophones look great as lamps.” – Anne
• “I’ve seen a clarinet turned into a lamp.” – Tony
• “An oboe lamp is beautiful.” – Shannon
• “My dog uses my wooden tenor recorder as a chew toy.” – Ruth

Brass

Check out those flared ends of brass instruments and just imagine their possibilities. Given they’ve already served for years as plumbing-devices attached to the faces of musicians, why not start right there, repurposing them as alternative water-receptacles?

• “I’ve seen a tuba turned into a basin!” – Louisa
• “I have a friend who has a water-fountain made from an old French horn that had no more sound to make.” – Sarah
• “A trumpet makes a nice wall-feature, mounted vertically with a floral arrangement inside the wide top part.” – Gayle
• “The bell of a French Horn makes an ideal housing for a bulb-fitted ceiling light.” – Trevor

Percussion

Just as there are hundreds of different percussion instruments, so too there are hundreds of repurposing possibilities for them. Just one word of caution if you intend to use them as heating-devices (which several people suggested), remove the chemicals in the lacquers, paints and other materials first, because they can be toxic!

• “A snare-drum frame makes a perfect barbecue – ideal for Bolero-haters!” – Simon
• “A tam-tam could be used as frypan!” – Bader

  

• “I heard of an old drum kit being turned into light fittings.” – Alida
• “I made this coffee table out of a bass drum that I’d picked up at the tip shop for $10." – MJ

Strings

Okay, don’t do anything until you’re absolutely certain that it’s not a long-lost Stradivarius. No? Sorry ‘bout that. But don’t worry, because even though your broken-down string instrument was in the front line on the day the music died, it still has many other uses.

• “We have an old cello that’s been turned into a CD cabinet.” – Jodianne
• “A double bass makes an excellent drinks cabinet.” – Eliot
• “My cat sleeps in my viola case”. – Therese.

Martin Buzacott presents Mornings on ABC Classic (Monday to Friday, 10am–1pm).