Hi All,  I'd like to take this moment to thank Terry Dolan and Andy
Taylor for their invaluable support in helping me get a Pianomation
system up and running again.  Never again will I trust the words of a
customer who says, "Well, it was working and then it just quit."
(The First Mistake.)

After exhausting every test, replacing the processor board (thanks
to Terry) and the tape deck to no avail, I decided to start from
scratch.  With the installation manual in hand, I started checking
the orientation on all the cables. Sure enough, two of the signal
cables were reversed at the processor.

Now, I can hear the chatter in your brains -- you're saying, "Why
didn't you check them when you put the replacement processor in?"

Well, this is the first Pianomation 1 system I've ever worked on.
And to insure that I put all the cables back where they came from,
I made a detailed drawing of each before removing them.  Naturally,
I installed them exactly as I found them. (The Second Mistake.)

After the unit started working, I decided to retry both of the tape
decks belonging to the customer.  They didn't work.  Here again,
believing the customer was my first mistake.  He insisted they both
worked fine.

Here's a little something extra.  After so many failed attempts to
get the unit going, and having pulled more than a few of the precious
remaining hairs out of my head, I finally looked up to the heavens and
asked for guidance.  The reply came back in an instant: "It's something
simple!"  That's when I started tracing cables.  (Thank-you, Lord.)

And here's the nauseating part.  After it was going, I asked the
customer if anyone else had looked at the system between the time that
it quit and the time I got called in.  I wasn't too surprised when he
said, "Yes, the guy who installed the system eight years ago.  He said
it couldn't be fixed, and that I needed to upgrade.  But I just want
this system fixed."

Now it dawns on me, could that person have intentionally reversed those
cables?  It's interesting to note that the company is no longer in
business.  Seems they were actually closed before the tech was called
in to do the repair.  Hmmm..., makes you wonder.

Musically,

John A. Tuttle