Yes, it is depressing to hear of player pianos that are sent to
the dumpster in this day and age.  It is also depressing to go to
a customer's house and find a player that does not work and it should.
I am then told they have spent thousands on it and cannot get the
technician to come fix it anymore.

The problem is his work was substandard and he charged full price for
it.  He did only a partial rebuild but should have done a complete job
for that kind of money.  The things he did may work but the things that
were left are now failing and require 90% of a complete rebuild be done
now to make it work.  Often the customer cannot afford to have further
work done so the piano sits as a piano shaped object in their home for
many years.

Sometimes the customer has me restore it and when I get in I find that
much of what was previously done was not airtight.  He did not know how
to even cover pneumatics without leaks at the corners or the glue joint
to the deck.  The leather valve facing was purchased from PPC and it
leaks like a sieve.

This is the kind of thing that causes our player piano advocates
themselves to lose faith and turn against players and all player techs
-- even the good ones.  As I say on my web site, "If you think a good
technician is expensive, just try a bad one."  Those kind are way more
expensive by the time you pay someone else to fix their screwups.

Everyone who rebuilds players should do the best work they can do.
Some are doing that, but some are just interested in getting it back
together and getting paid.  It takes lots of research to find the top
quality supplies.  To make sure that your supplies will last 30-50
years once you install them, you must know what they are made from and
who made them.

You must test every piece of leather and know how it was tanned, how
airtight it is.  You must keep checking each time you get a new batch
from your supplier to make sure that the quality is there.  You should
be inquisitive on how others are doing things.  Are your techniques the
best, the fastest, the most efficient?  Is there a better way to do
something?

Too many rebuilders simply give up because they cannot make a living
doing this.  These are the people who do not do the things mentioned
above.  They have to keep going out on warranty calls because something
leaks and is barely playing anyway, so it fails too easily.  These
systems are so old now that you should not expect to keep any piece of
leather, felt, rubber, or cloth.  Just plan to replace it all, including
the bushings in the wind motor and pneumatic fingers.

These two items alone have caused so much trouble in players that were
rebuilt previously that I can't understand why few restorers think new
bushings are needed.  Any player piano that is restored and fails
within 25-35 years was not done right.  Even I have been embarrassed by
cloth that failed in 12 years.  At least I know that my technique was
not at fault but the cloth itself.  However, I do feel responsible for
not knowing that the supplier was not to be trusted with the faulty
cloth.

Back then, I did not question the cloth or leather.  Now I question all
of it.

D.L. Bullock    St. Louis
www.thepianoworld.com