Repair Shop fixes Stranglers keyboard found in skip

An original keyboard from The Stranglers which was found in a skip has been restored to its former glory thanks to BBC One's The Repair Shop.

Toby Hounsham, the current keyboard player for the Guildford band, was given the original instrument played by Dave Greenfield on hits such as No More Heroes before his death in May 2020.

The keyboard has now been restored by The Repair Shop in their workshop at the Weald and Downland Living Museum in Singleton, West Sussex, which Hounsham says has kept the character of the instrument "brilliantly".

Speaking to BBC Radio Surrey, he said: "There's cigarette dents and burns all over it, and each dent tells a story."

Hounsham added: "The keyboard was found in a skip, and I wanted them to keep the character of it and they did that perfectly."

Hounsham, who said The Stranglers and Greenfield were his inspirations as a keyboard player prior to joining the band, said he was given the instrument after it was found, and kept it wrapped up in his house.

He added he had always intended to have the keyboard, a rare Hohner Cembalet keyboard from the 1950s, and was inspired after watching an episode of the show.

The Stranglers formed in 1974 in Guildford, conducting their tours in an ice-cream van.

Hits such as Golden Brown and No More Heroes achieved chart success in the 1970s and 1980s.

The keyboard will feature on The Repair Shop on BBC One on Wednesday at 20:00 GMT.

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