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David and Annie Enke restored this 1957 toy piano.
When I was 20 months old (1957) Santa brought me a rocking horse. Santa, however, brought my cousin Carolyn a toy piano. Needless to say I was MUCH more interested in her toy piano than I was my rocking horse.
Growing up I would always play that little piano when I would go to visit my cousin. Well, after my Christmas concert last year I decided to find out where that piano was. We found it in her garage. The cabinet had severe water damage, the tines were rusty, and several keys were broken - but I took it anyway and told her that finally, it was mine!
Our neighbors are music instrument gurus and I had David and Annie completely restore it. They totally rebuilt the cabinet (from solid rock maple), but it was the insides that needed a lot of re-fabricating. Also, I asked for the 'new' version to be red. So here it is. My new red toy piano - and yes, I'll be performing on it in concerts in the future.
By the way, the company still makes toy pianos, and I could have bought three new ones for what it cost to have this one restored. But this one is THE one. Does this story bring any thoughts about your childhood holiday memories?