I have restored players for over thirty years, and if it is _all_ done
_well_, there is no reason that a restored player won't last many
years.  If you leave half of it original then expect to keep going back
and replacing what you did not replace before.

I have had this demonstrated for me several times.  I used to build
nickelodeons and we did one that was put in a restaurant for the
public.  It was an old piano completely restored with all new piano
action and total restoration on all player parts that were used.  In
two years the piano came back to us (the first time ever) and was
totally unplayable.

When we got into it we found that all the new abstract felt of about
1/8" thick was worn through to the wood.  Everywhere there was movement
there was an amazing amount of wear.  When all these items were replaced
it played just fine.  It did not need pneumatic restoration, only
bushings and piano action.

The owner was not disturbed in the slightest and would not let us to
do the work for free even though he had a 5-year warranty on it.  We
found that in the last two years that instrument had made $50,000 in
quarters.  The owner said that he did not mind bringing the instrument
in every 2 years and spend $2,000 on it so he could go back and make
$48,000 more on it.

So the gist of this is, if you start out with 70-year-old action parts
then expect to beat them to death.  If you do a complete restoration
with new parts where possible expect them to last as well as these
instruments did when they were new.

D. L. Bullock   Piano World   St. Louis