A piano without a player action is more valuable?  I think _not!_

Well, where do I begin?  This is not a response to any particular
person on this list, but a generalization only.

  "The player piano market has tanked."
  "I can't sell it with a player in it."
  "It's worth more as a regular piano."

Players are a niche market.  If you are a piano store and not a player
specialist, then don't make these claims.  It is a rare piano store
indeed that can sell a specialty item like a reproducing grand of any
kind.  The walk-in customers you have are not looking for a player
except for the modern computer systems that can be added.  They are
looking for straight pianos.  So that is what you sell them.

I have never met a piano salesman who was any good at selling a
reproducer.  So, because he can't sell them he says they can't be sold.

The key to selling such an instrument is first to have it in top
playing condition.  If it does not play or play well, no customer can
imagine what it _might_ sound like.  They only know what it _does_
sound like.

Most customers have no clue what a reproducing piano sounds like.
You are introducing them to the beast and the one on your sales floor
sounds like a train wreck.  Gee, I wonder why it won't sell.

I am not referring to any one piano store but in general most of
the ones I have visited.  I have never seen a piano store with a
well-restored, good sounding reproducer that kept it very long.  The
reproducers that won't sell are the ones that were only "restored at"
and still need a pin block or other work.

This is a specialty, a niche, and you must wait for the right customer
even for a perfectly restored reproducer.  If you sell Boesendorfer
pianos you do not expect to sell one every week.  You are dealing with
a piano that sells for around $100,000.00 and you keep it in great
shape to wait for the correct customer to buy it.

You don't slap a coat of green antiqueing on it so it is worth less and
then sell it to someone with a smaller bank account.  Why would anyone
devalue a top dollar piano just to sell it faster?  No, you wait until
you can get the right customer into your door.  You work at getting the
right customer into your door.

Has the market tanked?  I doubt that.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average
can't decide whether to go up or down by 300 points.  The piano market
is the same.  No one is buying anything right now because they are
afraid of what is to come tomorrow.  Once they decide that things are
more stable markets will come back and probably stronger than ever.

The market is not tanking, it is waiting.  If you need money today
then you are out of luck.  Just like the last time we had a Bush in the
White House, people are hesitant to spend money.  (Anybody remember
that last Bush recession?)

That said, I must say that the rebuilding market has taken off.
I almost have more new restoration customers than I can take care of
in a reasonable amount of time.  I still have enough to keep me busy
for the next two years, as usual.  Only certain types of instruments
am I even taking right now.  I am besieged by reed organs and Ampicos
right now.  Everything is cyclical.  If you can't sell it, it is not
the fault of the instrument but it is your salesman.

D.L. Bullock
St. Louis
http://www.thepianoworld.com/