Personally I think an original gutted nickelodeon should be restored
back to original condition and not have some electronic player
mechanism installed.

The easy out is to install an electronic player mechanism that is sure
to fail or become obsolete within a few years.  Try to find a [floppy]
disk drive today for some of the electronic players made just ten years
ago, and forget about finding a tape cassette player for one of the
first electronic player pianos as no one in the world makes cassette
transports or parts  as of January 2008.  A well restored pneumatic
player will outlast all of them as history has taught us.

It is almost impossible to find all the parts to go into certain types
of original nickelodeons such as a Seeburg H or Coinola SO today.  The
few restorers that have restored these usually make many of the parts
that are needed.  For example, there are several Seeburg H models and
G models that are completely new with only the piano being original
Seeburg.

I would say there are perhaps a dozen restorers left in the United
States that have the ability to replicate original parts used in
Seeburgs, Wurlitzers, Coinolas, and a few other well-known nickelodeons.
There were several restorers that replicated parts also in what I think
of as the golden era of restorations.

The million dollar question is if it was cost effective, and that
depends how you view the cost of your pleasure for doing a fine
restoration for a nice showpiece.  Personally I find great pleasure
and satisfaction if I can replicate a part that no one can tell is
a replication (a forgery!).

Another possibility is to find a donor piano that has the needed parts
but in terrible condition or perhaps is less desirable.  An example
would be a fine Seeburg C that is gutted but you have a plain Seeburg A
with the parts you need.  The Seeburg C with the five panels of art
glass is a more desirable piano so I would transfer the parts from the
plain A to the C.  Between the A and the C with art glass are many
other models of Seeburgs such as the models with art glass known as
the Midnight Sun or the Drunk Monk.  Remember not all Seeburgs used the
same stack or scale as there were several vendors that made pianos for
Seeburg.

Coinola pianos used at least two vendors for their keyboard models.
During that golden era I know of two Coinola SO's and several Coinola
CO's that were replicated.  You can still do it today if you have a
strong desire.

Don Teach