Dear Mr. Rhodes, I have received your mail, and I'm very thankful for
your information.  You wrote:

> Jody told me that he put your name on the mail-list for MMD.
> I hope that you receive the big Mechanical Music Digest okay.
> (Tonight about 18 kbytes, often 30k- or 40k- -- even 50k-bytes !)
> I hope that you are not overwhelmed !
>
> I will help to find for you some rolls for your old Aeolian Pianola.
> This format is called "65-note" format.  (Ya, sensible !)
>
  [snip]
>
> Big question:  does your piano operate and make music?  (It is much
> older than me -- about 30 years older!)
>
> Please write and tell us about yourself, about Boichev in Bulgaria.
> Your email domain is "jetsystems";  perhaps you work with Jet Systems?
> (Ya, ya, sensible...?!!   ;)


You ask me: Does my piano operate?  The answer is YES.  The piano is
never been in bad condition.  There was just one problem: I have played
"November Rain" (Guns 'n' Roses) and one of the strings was destroyed.

The pianola was not in playable condition for about 30 years.  I searched
anywhere for one who could repair my string.  Every piano-master who I
asked told me that I must throw away my old pianola and the piano must be
just a piano.

But I'm not such a player.  Then I found Mr. Padev, who periodically
repairs the organ in Hall Bulgaria.  He had never seen such a pianola,
but in fact, he tried to repair it.

It was in very bad condition.  We had to change all hoses.  However, this
was a great problem.  There are no original hoses !  We made pianola
hoses from the hoses of a medical system.  First we cook the hose, then
make it elastic (Ya, sensible).

But no one knows the construction of this pianola.  All we have made was
"by magic."  In fact, for four months now, the pianola is in great form.

I don't know, did I say in my previous e-mail how many holes are on the
pianola?  If I didn't, or said wrong information, the TRUE information is
that the pianola is with 67 holes, and 2 of them are for something that I
can't tell if it is working.  This "something" is called "Themodist".
The whole question is that I have only one roll, which is only with 65
holes.  I don't know, if it is working.

You ask me to write something about "Boichev in Bulgaria".  There is no
such thing.  My domain name is jetsystems.  I'm just web master and java
programmer in the firm Jet Systems.

All of the repair of my pianola is with the great help of Mr. Padev.
I think, only he can repair such thing.  Look, in Bulgaria are not so
many owners of pianola, and there are no firms, which want to repair
such things.  This is very bad, but I can't do anything.

I will make pictures of the piano and send them to you.  Then you can
see what a job have we done.  If you have some other questions, feel you
free to send me a e-mail.

Best regards

Aleko Boichev
aleko@jetsystems.bg

 [ Editor's note:
 [
 [ Aleko, your letter is wonderful !  You were fortunate to meet
 [  Mr. Padev.  It is sad, but true: too often the piano repairman says,
 [ "Throw out the player action," simply because he is afraid to work
 [ on it.
 [
 [ I did not know that the "65-note" Pianola was equipped with the
 [ "Themodist" (Solodant) mechanism, which makes strong accents in the
 [ treble or the bass section, when the little hole is opened.  Can
 [ someone in MMD please tell us more about the 65-note Themodist system?
 [ What companies made "accented" rolls for this pianola?  Is a "Themodist
 [ Repair Manual" available which we can send to Aleko?
 [
 [ Robbie Rhodes