Hi Robbie,

This is  intended only as a rebuttal to your comments on my statement on
the 971014 MMDigest.

> [ Perhaps Damon means that he hasn't failed yet to make folks interested
> [ in the player piano.  I don't think he claimed that the piano was
> [ properly repaired -- it's just "patched up".  To me, it's the same
> [ situation as buying a used-car: before buying, the wise customer
> [ asks a trusted technician to inspect the goods and advise the cost
> [ of proper repairs.  -- Robbie

Damon may well make people interested in Player Pianos, but at the same
time he helps to kill the market, because after patching the bellows and
covering the wind motor, the pianos continues to go downhill. The
customer then tells their friends and neighbors who just "loved that
player piano" that they just don't hold up, so go out and get an
electronic player that's made good!  Also the piano teacher comes around
to give the kiddies lessons and recoils in shock when they see the
condition of the piano.  And the kids lose interest in pianos because if
they take lessons at their teachers house on a fine piano and then come
home to play on a clunker, it just never sounds or feels right!

As to getting the opinion of a trusted technician, in most cases the
person offering the piano is looked upon as a trusted technician.  There
"Might Be" a tuner close by, but from experience most tuners know
nothing about a player piano except that taking the guts out make a
better piano. Getting the opinion of another technician may be just
about impossible. In my searches I usually find player people that work
as a hobby, and use duct tape and bailing wire for repairs. If they call
to get me to go out and look at the piano, I have to tell them that
there is an "Evaluation Fee" which is based on the time and distance.
Most don't even want to pay $40.00 to get a $250.00 player checked out.
And if you look and one that's been patched up by the local technician,
and point out it's negative points, then you have a new enemy who tells
everyone to "Stay away from him because his prices are too high"

These comments are from "Real Life" experiences. I cannot tell you how
many times customers have come into my shop for  phonograph or reed
organ repair, and when trying to interest them in a player I get the
response of "My (Aunt, Uncle, Mother, Father, Friend, ect)  got one a
few years ago and was told that it had been repaired, but it only played
for about a year. They must be so old and the technology so outdated
that you just cannot fix them anymore!" No amount of explanations change
this feeling.  I show them a player in the stages of restoration and
they continue to say, well, "He said that one had been fix also!"

I'll never forget the day that a "Respected Technical came to my shop,
just to see the work in progress.  I asked if he wanted to try one of
the players, and he accepted.  When he sat down at the bench, the first
question was "Where's the Switch".  I told him just to pump the pedals.
You should have seen his face when the piano started to play on the
first pump!  He looked at me and said "I always have to put a vacuum in
mine!"

Sorry for the length, but now you can see what a "Comment" on my post
can really bring out!!!

Al Pebworth
Pebworth's Player Piano Center
Home of "Yesterday's Music
Chesapeake, Virginia