Hello,  In general I prefer the performance of a well restored
pneumatic reproducing piano to the solenoid players I have heard.
There is no reason that a solenoid player can not be very good but
it is largely a matter of cost.

The Boesendorfer SE is beyond the budget of most people.  The pneumatic
reproducing pianos are a real bargain and with an E-Roll interface can
access a huge library of rolls at very reasonable cost.

In spite of this, I can not sell enough E-Roll players to be able to
take advantage of volume parts purchases which would allow a more
reasonable cost.  Apparently there are not enough people who are
sufficiently interested in listening to well performed music to make
the investment.

I have tried for about seven years to make a business of selling these
systems but I can not continue if I can not make a profit.  I was hoping
that E-Rolls systems would help to maintain the "viability" pneumatic
players.

There seems to be no problem selling solenoid players.  I wonder what
percentage of them are used more than occasionally.  Some are so terrible
that it is difficult to imagine listening to them more than on a few
"special" occasions, but I think the music is secondary for most people.

Next month I hope to hear the new system that Wayne Stahnke is selling.
I am especially interested in hearing what my piano roll emulations
sound like.  If this system is as good as people say, it will offer the
opportunity to hear quality reproducing piano performances from all
systems and newly recorded music as well.

Best regards,
Spencer Chase