Rebuilds
Rebuilt and Repurposed Instruments
When a piano or a Hammond organ reaches the end of its playing life, the cabinet does not have to go to the curb. We rebuild it into furniture instead.
What happens after the last note
Every piano and organ has a working life, and eventually some of them reach the end of it. The action wears past what is worth restoring, the tone generator gives up, or the cost of bringing an instrument back to full voice stops making sense next to what it is worth on the floor. Most instruments in that condition get scrapped. At Paul Hewitt Music, some of them get a second life instead. The cabinet, which is usually the best-built part of the whole instrument, gets pulled apart, cleaned up and rebuilt into a genuine piece of furniture. Four of the pieces recently on our floor came from exactly that process, and a cherry grandfather clock has stood among them too.
One of a kind, and they do not last long
These are not a product line. Nobody sits down and designs a run of piano bookshelves. Each rebuild starts with one specific, real instrument that came through the door, and the finished piece carries whatever that instrument's cabinet had to offer: its wood, its hardware, its proportions, its history. That means no two rebuilds are the same, and it means what is on the floor today will not be on the floor forever. If something below catches your eye, the honest answer is to come see it in person, because the next thing to come out of the workshop will be something different again.
Paul Hewitt Music, Family owned and operated in Monroe since 1946. Call (318) 372-1449.
Recently on the floor
A Hammond tone cabinet, rebuilt into a bookcase
Repurposed Hammond tone cabinet
A Hammond tone cabinet is a substantial piece of furniture on its own, a wood enclosure built to project sound rather than hold books. Once the speakers and amplifier stop being worth restoring, that same solid cabinetry is exactly the kind of shell that takes well to a second purpose. This one was reworked into a bookcase, keeping the proportions and grain of the original piece while giving it a job it can do for another few decades. It is the kind of piece a shop can only produce when a real retired cabinet comes through the door, not something you can order in advance.
Recently on the floor: this is one of two Hammond tone cabinets that have come through this process here.
Recently on the floor
A console piano, rebuilt into a writing desk
Repurposed French Provincial console
Console pianos carry some of the most detailed cabinetry in the whole inventory, carved fretwork and all, and that detail is worth keeping even after the instrument inside stops being practical to restore. This French Provincial console was rebuilt into a writing desk, holding onto the carved front and the finish while trading the action and strings for a surface that gets used every day instead of sitting closed. It is the same idea as the bookcase: the part of the piano that took a craftsman's time to build in the first place is the part that survives.
Recently on the floor
An Everett studio, rebuilt around a modern Yamaha action
Repurposed Everett studio, Yamaha P-125a keyboard
This one runs the opposite direction from the bookcase and the desk. Instead of retiring the piano entirely, the original Everett studio cabinet was rebuilt to house a modern Yamaha P-125a digital keyboard inside it, so the piece keeps the look, the weight and the presence of a real studio upright on the showroom floor while playing like a current digital instrument underneath. It is a genuine hybrid, built because the Everett's cabinet was worth keeping even after its original acoustic action was not, and it plays as easily as it sits.
Also on the floor
A cherry grandfather clock
Grandfather clock, cherry finish
Not every distinctive piece on the floor started life as an instrument. A cherry grandfather clock has stood alongside the repurposed pianos and Hammonds here, the same kind of solid, well-built cabinetry that makes the rebuilds worth doing in the first place. It is a reminder that what this floor really trades in is furniture and instruments built to last, whichever direction that craftsmanship started out in.
See what's on the floor now
Rebuilds come and go as retired instruments come through the door, so what's pictured above may already have found a home. Call 318-372-1449 or stop by 1504 Lamy Lane to see what's on the floor today.