Classical virtuoso Irin Prechanvinit has received a touching replacement for the guitar she sold to fund her mother's unsuccessful cancer treatment, with a reader giving her a family heirloom.
Ray Ingram, an Australian in his seventies, offered an antique Spanish guitar he inherited from his mother after reading the Bangkok Post Sunday story about Irin's decision to sell her favourite instrument -- a Kazuo Sato Prestige 2011 -- to pay for the expensive treatment.
OVERWHELMED: Irin Prechanvinit plays the new guitar given to her by Australian retiree Ray Ingram, who delivered it in person to her Nonthaburi home.
The offer came the day Irin's mother died, Aug 29, and she recently took possession of the Admira Paloma classical guitar.
"I had a very nice, beautiful guitar that was given to me by my late mother," Mr Ingram said. "I thought the guitar is beautiful, so it should go to someone who could play it well."
Mr Ingram had played the guitar for 40 years but lately had kept it in storage in his Hua Hin home as an illness robbed the former mechanical engineer of sensation in his right fingers.
"I could not play the guitar as I wanted to. I was getting frustrated," he said.
Irin said at first she was reluctant to receive the gift, especially after realising how much it meant to Mr Ingram.
"I could not believe anyone would give something precious to a stranger," the 23-year-old musician said. "Initially, I told him I could not accept it, particularly this guitar which has a story behind it."
But Mr Ingram was sure Irin should be the guitar's new owner, and after learning of her mother's death drove from Hua Hin to Nonthaburi to deliver it in person.
"I didn't want to send it by mail," Mr Ingram explained. "It would be damaged. The guitar is very valuable."
He met Irin and her father, and the three had breakfast together before he handed over the instrument.
"The strings needed to be changed but Irin played it beautifully," he said. "I did say to her that I didn't string it because all guitarists have their own brand that they like."
Irin gave him a copy of her debut studio album, Forest Paintings, which Mr Ingram listened to on the return journey. "She is a very talented lady," he said.
Mr Ingram's late mother bought the classical guitar from a professional guitarist in Europe and gave it to Mr Ingram when he was a teenager. Mr Ingram took it everywhere he went before he settled in Thailand six years ago.
"My late mother was musical and she would think that it was a terrible waste for a guitar to do nothing," he said.
Showing off the guitar, made in the Admira guitar company's early years, Irin said, "I think this guitar must be almost 100 years old. You can see from the design. For example, they don't make the guitar with this neck shape any more."
Irin said she was impressed by the reactions of those who learned about her story. She previously said she did not have close friends except for her late mother.
"But now I am surprised how many people have helped me, even though I've never met some of them." A Canadian guitar maker also made her a new instrument, but they have never met in person. "The guitar maker learned about me from my guitar teacher and he made me a new one."
Irin now works in a volunteer group to assist cancer patients and is planning a charitable concert with other artists to raise funds for cancer patients.
In September next year, she will go back to finish her final year at Koninklijk Conservatorium (Royal Conservatoire) in the Netherlands.
She plans to study music therapy to use her skills to help patients.
While she no longer has her mother, Irin said she had learned a valuable lesson from the experience.
"Even in the darkest moment, there's always something unbelievable," she said.