Larry Lobel said:

> The message I'm getting is no one is really interested in
> restoring a fine reproducing piano.

This could be better worded.  A five-foot-eight Mason & Hamlin
might not be the most exciting project a restorer could imagine,
and maybe gutting it to power a concert grand is at least an equally
meritorious idea.

But restoring original high-quality reproducing pianos to original
condition is really the least we can do to uphold the reputation the
people who thought of them and brought them into being in the first
place.  If we can no longer hear exactly what they sounded like at
their best, we have lost an important connection back into musical
history -- especially as the good restorations can stand perfectly
well on their own feet as music.

I am no restorer, but I venerate the efforts of people to keep the
original thing living and in front of us.  Not that I wouldn't like
to hear an Ampico concert grand too.  There's room for both strands
of interest.

Dan Wilson