Richard, I would say it depends on your locale. I knew of a player piano rebuilder some 30 years ago, who was always booked for rebuilds. He usually had a two year backlog. He had a local store and stocked rolls, of which I bought many from him. About two years he passed away. After I started in the piano business, plus my love for player pianos, have had one since about 10 years old with a collection of about 800 rolls, I decided to take on that part of the business. Once my advertising kicked in, I have about 13 player customers, subcontracted twice with local piano stores for repairs and player checkups before they sell them and 4 rebuilds scheduled for this year. Ebay seems to be a good gauge for the market - even though that is from the selling aspect - however, that means there must be a concentration in those areas. Now if those people are selling just to be selling or selling because there are not enough rebuilders around - that is a good question. The player lover in me says go for it - you can always turn the business away. A full shop would be nice, right now I'm working out of my basement - pulling out the player parts and leaving the shell at the customers. Duaine P.S. Player piano almost never get tuned regularly, a lot of tuners refuse to tune players for what ever reason. Thats another way to get the word out - let your other local tuners that you will tune players. Richard Gullion wrote: > Hi List.... > Just wondering if anyone still does player piano > work..repairs...rebuilds. Is there a market for these skills. Ball > park figures on various aspects of rebuilding. Any thoughts and > suggestions. I am intrigued, have small experiance with them. But am > thinking about going further > > > Richard > the "Piano Guy" -- Duaine Hechler Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding Associate Member of the Piano Technicians Guild Reed Organ Society Member St. Louis, MO 63034 (314) 838-5587 dahechler@charter.net www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com
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