Player pianos

[Larry Fisher]

Eric and Jeff wrote about some player piano references, concerns, problems
and possible solutions.

The odds of any store manager spending the dollars on the restoration of a
player piano are very slim.  To restore a reproducer on the retail level is
well over $3000 just for the player part.  To repair just the broken hoses
depends on how many other things break while fixing the broken ones, and how
long it takes to get to them.  Repairing and restoring players is labor
intensive.  I rebuild them on a time filler basis.  As time permits, I work
on them.  The customer is aware of this before hand, and doesn't mind
waiting almost a year to have their player returned to them, rebuilt and
playing like new.  The pay per hour on this job is usually close to about a
fourth of what I could've made had I had other work to do.  There are always
those lulls, or down times when supplies couldn't keep up with demand, or
procurement didn't keep up with usage, or when other obstacles hinder
forward movement in the shop.

Jeff writes:
> there's no real way to learn this type of work, except by reaching in and
trying it

That's what I did.  It's terribly time intensive however.  I spent a lot of
hours going back and repairing what didn't work.  I now have plenty of other
work that pays.  Back then I needed something to pass the time.

Eric, you know how to reach me although I seriously doubt, due to the
extremely soft market on player pianos in this area, that the manager would
spring for anything past an hour or two of maintenance on this piano.

When it comes to repairing old players, no matter how strange they may seem,
I've always relied on figuring them out on my own and never relied on any
tubing diagrams except for tracker bar configuations.

Later dudes.

Lar

                                                  Larry Fisher RPT
                specialist in players, retrofits, and other complicated stuff
                       phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com
                  http://www.pacifier.com/~larryf/homepage.html (revised 8/96)
                         Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water