Great response, Del! and thanks for bringing up some up those ideas. I agree for the most part, I much prefer to have those pianos making music at those museums. The silent box behind the rope, or hermetically sealed glass, is however, the best route for the truly rare and old, which I doubt this instrument is. For the truly rare and old, it is more important to preserve evidence of how the instrument was built, and then to build replicas so we can play and hear them. I believe it would be wonderful to restore this piano. My concern is that it should retain its character in how it looks, plays and sounds, as much as is possible given currently available restoration materials. This requires knowledge of how it was originally intended to be, cosmetically, and what it's construction techniques imply, including the longevity of the sound production system given those construction techniques and intents. That's a long winded way of saying, that certain things may not be broke, so don't fix 'em, or worse replace them with different types of modern parts. I've seen too many antique pianos that were turned into bizarre hybrids, or into modern pianos in a pretty case. For a private home, that may be what the owners want. Museums and historic homes, in my experience, want as truthful of exhibits as possible. In addition, they may have standards they are required to follow. AA
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