I have been offered four free pianos in last six months, and there were
ten in a garage in London for free; only half of these found new homes.
I would not take a free 88-note piano, only a reproducer.  The market
here in UK is dead for newcomers restoring machines.

I have five contacts who started restoring 65- or 88-note players up
to ten years ago.  I visited them, offered advice and gave addresses for
books and materials, in the hope I would sell them some rolls when the
project was finished.  I have to say that none of these restoration
projects are finished -- they will not pay for expert help nor send
them away to be fixed, due to price.  These may never get fixed, but
I make an annual phone call to check on progress in the hope it will
make them feel guilty and do some more work.

I would like to know what age people are who are members of MMD?
When we did a survey for Musical Box Society G.B. (there was a survey
for F.O.P.S. as well, a few years ago), most interested people were over
60 years old.  Could people mention their age when sending in their
annual payment to MMD?

While you might capture new interest at outdoor rallies for fair
organs (called band organs in USA), how do people hear player pianos,
organettes or musical boxes unless they go to a museum?

I take smaller instruments out to give talks, but they are usually to
"Over 60" clubs and church groups where the people are also of an older
age group.

While there are some very wealthy people in USA -- for example, someone
in Texas running a museum recently paid $4,000 for a Manopan table
Organette -- that is not the case here in UK, and I have noticed prices
continuing to fall.

I have about 12 instruments currently for sale: Red Welte Piano,
Polyphon Disc Musical Box, 8 Organettes.  A few are mine, the rest
belong to friends without Internet connection.  If you are looking for
anything do please let me know, I might be able to help.

Kevin McElhone

 [ We conducted an informal survey of MMD demographics a few years ago.
 [ The average age of the subscribers was about 60 years, but I think
 [ there's really two groups:  the majority at average age 60+ years,
 [ and a smaller but quite vigorous group at about 35 years average
 [ age.  It's hard to say which age group invests more time and money
 [ in mechanical music.  -- Robbie