Part-Restored Antique Wooden Hand Carved Gamelan-Style Xylophone Ranat Iron Bars For Sale

Listing description:

Every now and then something turns up in a charity shop that stops you in your tracks — this little xylophone was one of those finds.

It\'s made in the beautiful \"boat\" form you see in traditional South-East Asian instruments — Thai ranat and Indonesian gambang xylophones — with those wonderful rolled, scrolled ends that curl up like the prow of a small wooden boat. I can\'t tell you with certainty whether it began its life in Thailand or Indonesia (there are no maker\'s marks to go on), but the shape and style firmly belong to that gamelan/piphat family of instruments, and it has real presence sitting on a shelf or sideboard.

It\'s honestly a fairly rustic, hand-made piece rather than a fine professional instrument — you can see the tool marks and slightly wonky joinery here and there — but that\'s exactly what gives it its charm. This was clearly made by someone\'s hands, not a factory.

What you\'re getting:

• 7 metal bars, which appear to be iron finished with an old gold paint
• Solid carved timber frame with those lovely upswept scroll ends
• The original wooden mallet, included
• A good amount of age and character

A bit about the restoration (I like to be upfront):
I\'ve restored the timber frame myself — cleaned it up and refinished it, so the wood now has a lovely warm glow. I deliberately left the metal bars alone; they\'re exactly as I found them, with all their old patina intact.

Play-wise, six of the seven bars have a really pleasant ring and tone. The smallest bar at one end has gone a bit \"dead\" — you can hear the difference if you tap it.I personally don\'t know how to make any adjustments to the tone, but I\'m sure that there are people who do know.

Size: Length 68.5cm, Width 19.5cm, Height 32 cm, and Weight 5.375kg

Happy to answer any questions, and do check out all the photos before offerding/buying.