In reply to Mr. Bullock.  I have been a restorer of player pianos and
reproducers for nearly thirty years now and I can show you dozens of
fine, well restored reproducing grands that go wanting everyday.

People are into the new digital units and they don't want to spend tens
of thousands on a restored old piano when they can buy a brand new
grand with no headaches or rolls to store away.  It seems to be the in
thing these days, the public is ignorant of the difference between a
really decent old piano and some new piece of glued up sawdust with
strings.

My field of specialty has been upright players and they have even felt
this market take a walk.  I have dozens of old players offered to me
monthly and my warehouse space is at it's limits but I still respect
and love these old beasts enough to try and save some.  The problem
comes in paying the rent to store them when you're only selling two or
three per year these days.

As a far a your remarks about the recession and our current president
you must be ignorant of the fact that this recession began long before
Mr. Bush took office.  The player piano business was not that great
under our last president.  Politics aside, I firmly believe that this
market is cyclical and if the public gets a bit more exposure and
education they'll come back into the fold regardless of who sits in the
White house.

I have enough rebuilding to keep instead for awhile yet and I seem to
have a lot of interest from folks who already have their family player.
The player piano is not a necessity in anyone's existence except for a
few of us and it is thought of as an expensive toy by many people.

Costs cannot come down on restoration because the cost of materials
have gone up more then ten fold since I started rebuilding, costs for
rents, tools, gasoline and everything else in our lives has gone way up
but people have no concept of what it takes to do even a basic rebuild
on a player and then sell it to try and make a little money.

I'll keep plodding along with the old players and try and find folks who
will love them as much as I do and will give them good homes like so
many stray dogs and cats.

Jim Jelinek