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KERNERSVILLE - With a heave-ho, an 1880s grand piano has returned to its home on the top floor of Korner's Folly.
 Neither
the rain nor the delivery schedule would relent so the delivery
took place. The rain pelted down, and workers took care to maneuver
the piano to the third floor of the Folly with a crane. Folly
workers and volunteers gathered around the piano to take pictures
and watch piano-restorer Michael Stinnett supervise the reassembly
of the piano.
"This leg is on the wrong side," Stinnett said after volunteers had gotten the piano upright and screwed on the massive removable legs.
It took a few more grunts to lift one back corner, take off a leg and swap it with one of the legs on the front of the piano. Workers then brought in the piano lid and music rack, and Stinnett played the "Maple Leaf Rag."
Stinnett said he believes that the piano was built between 1880 and 1883. Charles M. Stieff of Baltimore made it.
In 1896, Jule Korner used a block and tackle to raise the
piano to the third floor of Korner's Folly, where Korner had
built a stage that would become the first private little theater
in the country. Dances were held in the room and the piano was
used for recitals. Korner died in 1924. The piano remained in
the house, and it began to fall into disrepair along with the
house.
Amid summers' heat and winters' cold, the piano's finish and
sound deteriorated. The music rack disappeared. It was a distant
Korner relative from Germany, Inge Reiner, who made the first
donation in 1996 for the restoration of the piano, said John
Wolfe, a member of the Korner's Folly Foundation who has spearheaded
the restoration effort. The project started when Polly Wolfe
donated money, and Reiner donated another sum. Others also donated
money and their work.
 Stinnett
said he found the strings rusted and the interior felt rotten
when he opened the piano in his shop in Knoxville, Tenn. The
leather covering the hammers had rotted and replacing it proved
to be the most challenging part of the job, Stinnett said. The
coverings aren't made anywhere, so Stinnett had to make them
from scratch using new leather.
The restoration included a modern alteration that will go
unnoticed until visitors hear the piano playing. Stinnett installed
a computerized device on the piano that turns into a player
piano with the help of a compact disk. Connie Martin, the director
of the Korner's Folly Foundation, had the piano playing Christmas
carols the day after it was returned.
She said that a formal recital - with a real pianist - may take place early next year to give the piano its public debut.
The piano was brought back to Kernersville last Thursday.
Guy M. Turner Inc., a contractor, donated a crane to hoist the
piano into the house through the fire-escape door on the upper
floor. The plan was to put the piano into a specially-built
crate that had been made by local contractor Kent Brown when
the piano was taken out of the house, but a hitch developed.
The computer equipment added to the back rear of the piano had
changed its dimensions, and it would no longer fit the crate.
The movers decided they could handle the piano without the
crate, so it was covered hoisted through the upper door. In
its day, the piano could have been bought for about $750, Stinnett
said. Today, pianos of this type sell for $25,000 to $30,000
when they are restored.
Wesley Young can be reached at 727-7381 or at wyoung@wsjournal.com
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