Player pianos

[Barb Barasa]

I would add to Lar's comments that the ONLY reason to learn to rebuild these
is some driving curiosity to learn something totally new.  It has nothing to
do with pianos as we know them ... whole separate machine.

I do not repair players, altho I am not afraid to take the stack out so I
can work on the action.  (I understand there are many tuners who won't even
go TUNE a player for fear something terrible will happen.)  But I have
worked closely with a player rebuilder.  If the issue is how to get a
certain player working properly, I always refer this to someone who
specalizes in this work.  Doing it yourself is kind of like handing someone
who has never worked on an action a Reblitz book and telling them to file
the hammers, repair all the broken parts, and completely regulate an ancient
upright.  It is not that they can't do it, but it will be, as Lar says, a
LONG and frustrating project.  Why not get it done quickly and properly?

I also agree with Lar that most stores ... and most individuals ... will
never pop for the bucks to do this work.  They think it just needs some
patching up, but it needs total rebuilding.

Barb Barasa
Ashland, OR

>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
>
>
>
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