Tonight I went to look at a free upright Weber Pianola that had been
entirely gutted of its player action.  I usually would never go to look
at a gutted player piano, but this one is a gorgeous art-case upright
with carved legs and carved pilasters, and beautifully paneled sides.
The gutting of this piano was a real shame and the person that did it
needs to be strung up.  It has an early serial number 65158.  Inside,
the piano and action look like new.  Outside, it's not bad but not
great either.  If it isn't saved by me, it's going to go to the dump
before August 1st.

So my question is that even if I saved this piano, what are the odds of
finding the correct entire player action for it?  I'd certainly save it
if I could find the right parts.  Additionally, there is no indication
that the keyslip ever opened or folded down to expose the controls.

Didn't some Aeolian actions have the controls in the spoolbox, under
the keybed or someplace else?  I have seen one Weber that had the
controls oddly placed on top of the fallboard, which of course had to
be closed over the keyboard while using the player action.

I'm going to take votes in here to decide if I am going to save this
piano or not.  Majority wins.  In a way I hope it gets saved, but in
another way, I don't need an unrestored player piano sitting around
here, especially a gutted one, no matter how nice it is.

John D. Rutoskey

 [ I recently examined a Weber with all the controls above the keys,
 [ as you describe.  It was nicely restored, asking price around $1500.
 [ You could buy that piano and transfer its player to the free Weber,
 [ but that would be silly.  I doubt very much that you will find
 [ an "above the keys" top action unless it's already in another nice
 [ Weber piano, so I think you should continue to search for a complete
 [ player piano to restore.  -- Robbie