I read D. L. Bullock's note about Bill Kap with interest, as I used to
go through Cleveland often on business in the late 1980s.  I stumbled
onto Bill's piano shop quite by accident, and stopped in.  I met Bill
in person and he showed me his operation: new pianos, restored pianos,
rolls for sale, his antique collection, and, of course, his shop.
All was impressive.

His shop had its own paint booth, with temperature controls for not
only the air, but also the paint!  The booth vendor rep was there the
day I was and they were dialing in the process.  He had a bead blaster
for the actions.  He not only restored the actions and the cases, but
also the player mechanisms.  I had no idea he also built his own player
pianos.

He told me he had storage containers full of player mechanisms that
were likely to go to the dump someday for lack of a home.  His antique
musical instrument collection was quite impressive also.  I don't
remember details, but I do remember a Mills Violano.  I used to love
to browse through it.

All very impressive, but what struck me was the friendliness of the
man, and the willingness to share his operation with a fellow collector.
I got in the habit of stopping by whenever I was in town.

By the way, the address and phone number provided by Mr. Bullock are
the same that I have.  I have not been to the shop since probably 1989.

Ray Fairfield