I only knew _of_ Jack Schott. I knew his widow Louise, however, as I
worked with her for a year or so in Arlington TX when I was just out
of college.
She was probably the finest worker there ever was in rebuilding player
stuff. She just sat at her table each day, all day, watching her soap
operas on TV and rebuilding thousands of valves, pouches and pneumatics.
She did not dismantle the piano, but we just did that and handed her the
parts. At one end of the table she put the finished parts all perfectly
regulated within a few thousandths and without any micrometers.
Since I now run a large midwestern restoration shop, I wish I had 4 or 5
of her now. She never had to be told how to do anything. She and Jack
had restored many, many carousel organs and fair organs and player pianos
for Lowell Stapf in Amarillo for decades. She died a couple of years ago
of cancer.
D. L. Bullock Piano world St. Louis
[ It sounds as though the "Fort Worth Organ Factory" was simply
[ Mr. Schott's huge collection of old parts, and Mrs. Schott's
[ rebuilding skills. Is this sensible, Matthew? -- Robbie
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