Thai Musical Instrument Craftsmen in Chonburi Province

Abstract

This paper aims to find out the number of Thai musical instrument craftsmen in Chonburi province by interviewing the local musicians. It was found that there are 7 Thai musical instrument craftsmen: Sawang Ruksasub, Somkuan Boonrod, Surachai Rueangdech, Avarach Chonvasin, Panom Panommak, Panupong Tientong and Jitpanu Nuntiprapa who live in 5 districts of Chonburi Province: Mueang Chonburi, Bang Lamung, Si Racha, Pan Tong and Panat Nikom. The instruments found which made in Chonburi province were  Ranad Ek, Ranad Ek mallet (hard mallet), Ranad Tum mallet, Kwong wong yai mallet (leather mallet), gold and mirror instrument decoration, drums, stainless long-tail drum, Saw Duang, Saw U, Saw Sam Sai and Jakhe. The craftsmen’s age are in between 22 – 61 years old, most of them have another main career such as muscians, Likae performer and business owner, the instrument making is just a part-time job, at the same time some of the materials were hard to find, it caused of the less number of the musical instrument producing. There are 2 kinds of craftsmen in Choburi Province, 1) the craftsmen who learned how to make their own instruments and 2) the craftsmen who inherited the methods from their craftsman teachers of the famous music master.