The discussions on this topic have veered to a counsel of perfection
which is rather at odds with the purpose of making the most of the
cheaply-available unrestored players available.  Certainly you can take
200 or 300 hours on a restoration, but I suspect that the number of
players that get this level of treatment is decidedly on the low side!

It would be a shame to put off potential buyers by making them think
this is necessary.  Doing nothing more than keeping an instrument
available for the future is still useful.

It's certainly true that there are quite a lot of cheap instruments
available.  Many of these are likely to be made serviceable for far
lower costs than have been suggested, and surely the useful advice
is what to look for.  As a highly non-comprehensive list:

1. Select an OK make of piano and player,  In the UK the perennial
favourite is the Steck 'Pianola' piano that frequently changes hands
for as little as UKP 200 (100 at auction) if a bit tired.  Pianola
actions are good restoration prospects, and there's a chance of finding
ones that will play adequately for little more effort than retubing and
patching holes in the main exhausters.  Some have still got serviceable
pneumatics (remarkably).  These instruments don't have many lurking
time-bombs such as pot-metal parts that require purchase of costly
replacements.

2. Choose something with acceptable casework that merely needs a bit
of elbow grease and you've avoided hundreds of pounds worth of
repolishing.

3. Avoid basket-cases, particularly rusted, water-damaged or
structurally poor instruments, no matter how cheap.  Avoid common
instruments that have been mangled, modified or are missing parts
unless you fancy a quixotic challenge.  Avoid cheap pianos and poor
player mechanisms because they'll never be as much fun to use.

Anything chosen from the above and patched to get it working will
certainly need more work later, but you can get a lot of fun first
before undertaking the commitment of an expensive restoration.

Tractable mechanisms such as Pianolas can be rebuilt entirely
successfully at home with fairly limited tools, and the assistance
of Art Reblitz's book, "Player Piano Servicing and Rebuilding."
Quite a lot of the tasks can be done piecemeal as time allows.

Given the scarcity of full-time commercial rebuilders, all effort
should be made to encourage hobbyists who are prepared to do the work
carefully enough.

Julian Dyer