On March 26, at the Global Antique Piano Restoration Technology Center (located in Wuhan, China, near the famous Moon Lake), a 1917 piano produced by the Canadian Bell Musical Instruments Company was “reawakened” with the sound of beautiful melodies. Over the past decade, more than 500 antique pianos from abroad have been restored to life here.
The restoration center is housed within the Wuhan Piano Museum, and it attracts antique pianos from around the world, all seeking repairs in Wuhan. On that day, the museum’s director, He Lijun, led his team members Wang Tianxu and Zhai Yuanxin, who worked diligently on the final restoration and tuning of this century-old piano. After half a year of prior restoration work, the piano was tuned and adjusted for an entire morning, bringing it back to life. It not only played beautifully but also restored its once revolutionary “automatic piano playing system.”
Wang Tianxu, pointing to the restored piano, explained that each antique piano’s restoration is a complex process. It involves repeated adjustments to thousands of parts, and for severely damaged components, traditional methods and materials are used to create replacements. “Due to the age of these pianos, parts are no longer available, and no manuals exist. We rely on experience and luck, going through countless trial and error,” he said.
“Music is beautiful, and just as the legendary musician Bo Ya broke his zither after the death of his close friend Zhong Ziqi, we now bring the beautiful sound of global piano restoration back to life by the Zhi Yin Lake,” He Lijun explained when discussing the inspiration behind founding the restoration center. The museum houses over a thousand antique pianos, including some of the world’s most renowned models. In 2016, He Lijun had a bold idea: to establish a joint antique piano restoration center with professional companies from Europe and America. To achieve this, the museum introduced the latest piano reconstruction technology and specialized equipment, and even invited senior technicians from Steinway & Sons in New York. Wang Tianxu and Zhai Yuanxin joined the team more than a decade ago, having come from a piano production company.
With over ten years of hard work, from learning from European and American technicians to continuous innovation, the center has developed a complete and advanced set of restoration techniques. One of He Lijun’s proudest achievements is inviting local craftsmen and inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to join the team, incorporating Chinese wisdom into the restoration and rebuilding of antique pianos, yielding impressive results. For severely cracked wooden piano bodies, the traditional Chinese mortise and tenon “swallowtail groove” technique is used, which is more durable than strong adhesives. Additionally, the “wooden wedge fine-tuning” technique ensures millimeter-level precision in adjusting the action. Moreover, the team applies traditional Chu-style lacquer art, shell carving, and other techniques to restore the piano’s exterior, blending Chinese and Western aesthetics.
Thanks to its advanced skills and cost advantages, the team has expanded into overseas markets, attracting clients from all over the world. In 2019, the European Antique Piano Restoration Association sent 110 antique pianos to China for restoration. These pianos were packed into five 40-foot containers, traveling more than 30,000 kilometers across the globe to reach Wuhan. These 110 pianos, from various brands and exquisite in design and craftsmanship, were carefully restored by the team, as if opening a time portal and waking up the slumbering instruments.
Today, the “Piano Reconstruction and Restoration” technique has been included in the Hanyang District’s list of representative intangible cultural heritage projects in Wuhan.
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