Dear Andy,

It sounds like your goals, ethics, and enthusiasm are certainly intact.
Sometimes that is the most important driving force to get things
started. I might, however, be able to share some personal insight and
experience on the subject.

I became "bitten" by the mechanical music bug quite some time ago when I
decided to try and repair an old 1927 Kimball player. After much
frustration, reading, and networking with some technicians in the
community, I successfully rebuilt the instrument and became irreversibly
inspired. While there are really no educational sources for learning
this trade other than associating with others, studying texts, and lots
of hands-on self-instruction, I soon came to realize that there are a
number of related subjects that a mechanical music technician must
learn. Included are machining, woodworking, welding, electrical,
refinishing, and the like. Even beyond this, however, the one thing that
most all music machines have in common is that they are built around
pianos, excepting, of course, music boxes, band organs, and the like.
Even machines like band organs, however, share many basic concepts of
this technology.

I came to realize this early, and upon the advise from numerous others,
this was the path I chose. While a university student, I began
apprenticing with the staff technician several times per week (which
also earned me some credit). Still feeling the need for additional
education, however, I enrolled full-time in a school for piano
technology. While regular pianos were never my original inspiration, I
soon realized that one cannot just "start a player piano rebuilding
business" just because he/she is inspired to do so. You have to eat, pay
the bills, etc. Furthermore, in order to have a rebuilding shop, you
usually must first be a home owner. And so the dilemma begins as you
soon realize that this must be a "Business", and looked upon only in
that way. Hobbies are for hobbyists, and earning a living is something
much different. Furthermore, one cannot just do "passable and
functional" work. There are liabilities and reputation involved. To be
in business, you must be able to stamp a reasonable warranty for the
customer on your work.

Realizing this fundamental, I became forced more and more into regular
piano work. I passed the examinations to become registered with the
Piano Technicians Guild, and became in charge of the rebuilding shop for
a major piano dealer. Though general piano rebuilding is not quite the
same as mechanical music work, it has taught me a tremendous amount of
skill. Presently I am on staff at a major university, and maintain over
100 pianos for the music department. I prepare concert instruments for
symphony performances, and I have had the privilege of working with
several respected and well-known artists. I also tune and repair pianos
in the community.

My long-term goals of rebuilding, collecting, and displaying music
machines still remains intact today, however, I believe I understand the
"business" much better that when I rebuilt that first player and decided
that I wanted to go that direction. Player-pianos and other related
machines have become such a niche market today that I believe it is
almost a requirement that you do something else concurrently. Certainly
there are several rebuilders around the country that work full-time,
however, I have never spoken with one who hasn't told me a similar story
of how they got there. I still firmly believe that mechanical music will
make somewhat of a comeback, at least in
certain circles. At present, however, even being surrounded by numerous
professional musicians and students, I routinely find that the average
American doesn't even know what a player-piano is, let alone a band
organ or a Mills Violano. It largely becomes the responsibility of
groups such us to educate and display music machines as often as
possible if the average person is to become aware of this important and
significant aspect of music history.

This is not to discourage you. On the contrary, I envy the fact that you
have the mortgage paid off and are ready to "get started".  It is true
that few professional piano technicians care about player- pianos and
often either "gut" them or destroy them rather than work on them. On the
other hand, I have noticed that there are a few more piano technicians
in recent years who do enjoy work on them than there were in the past.
Hopefully this will become a trend. It is my hope that as we approach
and pass the year 2000, perhaps music machines will become re-discovered
by the public as treasures from this century, and that hopefully a new
generation of collectors and rebuilders will emerge. I sincerely hope
that both you and I are among them.

Respectfully,

Rob Goodale, RPT