Hi all,  I recently received a Seeburg "L" from Kim Bunker at Orange
Coast Piano.  From start until almost the finish (more later -- it's
funny), everything went smoothly and as advertised.  Transcontinental
shipments of just about anything large is never painless, but this
transaction approached true painlessness.  The instrument was unpacked,
and installed in a corner of my living room, where it is playing
lustily even as I type -- right out of the box.   The quality of the
rebuild is excellent.  Now the fun.

It was crated by Orange County Crating and shipped by Stevens Air
Transport.  The crating job was of the 'Sherman Tank, H bomb won't hurt
it' variety.  The front and top were screwed on so I wouldn't have to
hack my way in.  The whole thing came to almost 600 pounds.

From the start, I reminded everyone in the food chain that I expected
the crate to be set down inside the house, not on the front lawn or
driveway.  "Yes!" was the reply, "inside the house."

The day arrives.  I call the shipping agent.  "Inside delivery? Well,
there's only one driver.  Can you help him with it?".

Soon afterward, it arrives.  Sure enough, it is lowered to the ground
on a lift gate, and then the driver and I look at each other and start
to laugh.  My house has a small hill (about 5 feet) and then 6 steps
to navigate.

He has a pallet fork hand truck but no ramp.  We get it up to the foot
of the stairs.  Now, 600 pounds is not trivial, so _lifting_ it up 5
steps was not going to happen.   To shorten this saga, let me say that
between the driver, myself, and my large son #1, we managed with much
cursing and groaning to leverage it up the steps, onto a dolly, and
then into the house.

Moral #1:  Never trust a shipper to understand the concept of
"inside delivery".

Moral #2.  You can trust Kim Bunker and Orange County Piano.

George Bogatko
http://www.inluxeditions.com/