It's a television phenomenon that has been known to make the nation weep as Joe Public's much loved, battered but cherished heirlooms and keepsakes are restored to their former glories. Last night's episode may have got a few bald ex-punks reaching out for the tissue box as our own Toby Hounsham squeezed some very familiar notes out of Dave's scarred Hohner Cembalet keyboard. This was made possible after some extraordinary repair and renovation by the 'Repair Shop' team. There is something quite wonderful about musical instruments that have clearly done the rounds (Gary Numan's Les Paul or Segs's Fender Precision come to mind) and Dave's Hohner certainly did that. The wooden surround is scratched and scarred from endless night's of being man-handled on and off stage and up and down countless flights of stairs! The damage is just part of its story.
As part of the laborious restoration process, David Burville scraped crud off of the organ reeds, the residues of smoke and sweat deposited over a 1000 nights (maybe a few less!) in the dingy basements and backrooms of London's many clubs and pubs.
The story of this instruments journey from neglected dilapidation in a Bristol rehearsal room to primetime TV salvation is touchingly related by Owen, who I am sure won't mind me reproducing his words here.
Over to him:
'Early in March 2020, I was involved in an exchange of emails with a guy that was emptying a rehearsal room/studio in the Bristol area. He had worked with ex Stranglers’ roadie Bruce Gooding and had found one of Dave Greenfield’s old keyboards, a Hohner Cembalet, which was sadly no longer working.
He attached photos and I recognised it immediately, especially with the large white STRANGLERS stencil on the back. He wondered if Dave wanted it back and I sent an email to the Greenfields to pass on the message.
I wasn’t aware then but Dave was poorly in hospital at that time. Dave’s wife Pam kindly sent me a reply saying ‘Dave wants you to have it’. So I drove to South Wales to pick up the piece of band history from the guy in late March. The Cembalet remained at our house until autumn 2022.
During a chat with Toby Hounsham, the new keyboard player in the band, in Cologne, he revealed that he used to collect the models of keyboards that Dave owned & played. Only one type of keyboard had always eluded him, you’ve guessed it, the Cembalet.
I had always felt guilty (& unworthy) of owning such a historical artefact and I immediately brought up pictures of the keyboard on my phone & showed Toby. He was amazed & asked who owned it, without a second’s hesitation, I replied ‘I do but you do now…’
On our return from the European tour, I delivered the Cembalet to Toby in Nov 2022. He was absolutely blown away & also very emotional that he now owned a keyboard that belonged to his hero.
He set about trying to get the keyboard repaired but every enquiry, frustratingly, drew a blank. It was such an old keyboard that few craftsmen were even able to work on it & parts for it were impossible to source.
Fast forward a year or so, it was suggested that the BBC programme The Repair Shop may be an option, where the show’s experts restore family heirlooms & valued items.
TRS was contacted and agreed to try to repair the Cembalet. Toby dropped it off to the TV studios last summer & then collected the newly repaired keyboard around the time of the Roundhouse shows last autumn.
So, after a long wait, the programme finally screens on BBC1 tomorrow night (Wed 4th Feb) at 8pm.
As a fan, it was a real privilege to be the short-term keeper of such a special item in band history and to be able to pass it on to its new rightful owner, the person who keeps Dave’s legacy alive.
I’ll be glued to the TV tomorrow night and, even if the BBC edit my involvement in the story out (as the Mirror piece did), I’ll still be immensely proud of my part in it…'
DVD image: https://we.tl/t-Y5g8Y3LiDV
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-mrSuSuA3nI
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