Tom Vogler wrote in 000204 MMD:

> We had a piano restorer in to look at it and he told us that
> the sound board was shot and hence the piano was beyond repair.

Well, if I had your so-called technician out to see 99% of the player
pianos I have restored, he would have said the same thing about every
single one of them.  You need to change technicians.

There is no such thing as "the soundboard is shot" except for 1 out of
1000 pianos.  Even if the soundboard were "shot", it is as replaceable
as well as any other item in the instrument.  Your technician is only
interested doing the easy jobs.

Let us all face the facts.  In this day so long separated from the
manufacture date of our beloved player pianos, there is no easy
restoration.  The only restoration I consider easy is the "modern"
player built since 1950.  These have pianos that do not need much work
on the piano part.  However, often the pianos are never as good
musically as many of the old full sized upright players.

Anything worth having is worth putting the effort into.

D. L. Bullock    Piano World    St. Louis