When you buy a new car and drive it off the dealers lot, it loses
about $2,000 value, unless you bought a highly collectable car.  I have
a 1990 Chevy Van that is probably worth only $200.  I recently spent
about $200 for new tires, $150 for a fuel pump, $475 for a new battery
and alternator.  I tried to give it away and no one wanted it.  I still
drive it, even though it costs more to fix than it is worth, but it is
great transportation, and for the most part it has been very
dependable!  It has only been this last year that the repairs are
getting more expensive than the vehicle is worth.

I have owned several player pianos over the years, and have poured lots
of money in them to make them restored and playing again.  I have never
made any money on any of them.  I always sold them for less than I paid
for the instrument and cost of restoration.  I don't think very many
people buy these instruments solely for the purpose of making money.
They usually cost more to fix than they are worth.  But, I don't think
most of us do so for a profit motive?  It is because we love them, love
to hear them sing and perform again and get great delight from them.
Or if it is a family heirloom, it may have sentimental value.  I feel
like I am just a caretaker of my music machines, and they do not belong
to me, but are provided for my pleasure while they are in my position.
So it is important to me to take care of them and keep them in good
operating condition.

In 1979 I acquired my 1923 Knabe with Ampico; I could not afford the
restoration of it, and I asked the owner of the shop where it was if
I bought it and since I could not afford to pay for them to do the
restoration, "could I do the restoration in his shop."  He smiled at
me, and said "of course."

I had visited Dick Carty and found him and his restorers wonderful
people.  I would see player pianos come and go in what seemed like a
very short time.  So I anticipated that in a matter of weeks I would
have my Ampico up and running.

You know that old saying, "Fools go where wise men fear to tread!"
I had no idea the amount of time it would take, and later understood
the smiles I got!  It took me a year and a half to restore that player
piano!

So, yes, it can be very expensive in time and money to restore one of
these fine machines, but it takes a long time and I developed a great
respect for people who do these restorations and fully understand the
length of time as well as the cost.  Figuring it out, doing a few
restorations myself, that I made perhaps about $5 per hour.  No one
in this business gets rich.  So I retired and now sell I player piano
rolls and earn only five cents per hour!  The good part is, my taxes
to Uncle Sam are very low!

I guess to sum it up, you have to decide if restoring that Wurlitzer
band organ is worth the cost of restoration for the love of it, or
maybe it would be better to sell it to someone who does not care about
the cost.

I recently went to the Band Organ rally in Marietta, Ohio, and had a
wonderful time.  The look on the kid's faces when watching all those
band organs play in the park, certainly it would be worth $17,000.
But, I do hope you are having someone who knows what they are doing to
work on the machine, as it costs more to redo the job that some klutz
has done.

You should have seen and heard some of the smiles, laughter and jokes
made while I was doing that Knabe player in Mr. Carty's shop.  But the
technicians there would tell me what to do while they snickered and
laughed.  But in the end I had the last laugh as they taught me very
well, and my Knabe Ampico is still playing very nicely (although I have
noticed that some of the pneumatic cloth that I used is becoming hard
and brittle now and it will have to be done again, so the cost will
still be there).  But it is the enjoyment of these machines, not the
cost, that we should be looking at.

Hope you make a good decision on the Wurlitzer!

Musically
Larry Norman - from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

 [ I also have fond memories of Dick Carty's shop in So. California.
 [ I think Dick rented workbenches and shop space to the techs, and
 [ helped them deal with their customers.  The feeling I had was of
 [ a co-operative shop.  Visiting was always fun and enlightening.
 [ -- Robbie