Hi MMD,  I would like to add my comments to those by Larry Schuette
and Cecil Dover about the current "worth" of player pianos today.

I bought my first player, a somewhat restored and refinished 1910
Lindeman "Auto Pneumatic" upright from Alnutt Music Co., an old family
run piano store here in Savannah in 1970 during my senior year in high
school.  It cost, I believe, about $700.00, which my parents loaned to
me.  I had been friends with a junior high school acquaintance whose
family had a restored Cable Euphona in their den/rumpus room that I
enjoyed pumping for hours.  My friend could have cared less about his
family's piano and let me alone while he went to play basketball with
other friends in his back yard.  It wasn't until my first visit to the
music museum at "Underground Atlanta" that I vowed that upon my return
to Savannah I would  own one of these pianos, which I did as mentioned
above.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Lindeman and made improvements to the player
action after reading Larry Givens' book, "Rebuilding the Player Piano",
which presented most of the illustrations of Standard/Auto Pneumatic
player actions.  I learned of reproducing pianos from the Vestal Press
and the yellow soft bound "treatise" on player pianos that I think
was sent to me along with my first order, which was the Givens book.
I obtained my small Ampico grand in 1984 from Mechanical Music in
Darien, Connecticut, in wonderful playing condition, and have enjoyed
listening to it often since then with only minor adjustments and tunings!

I really never bought these instruments with the idea of their resale
value, which, as Larry stated, has plummeted in recent times.  I cannot
put a dollar value on the musical enjoyment that these pianos have
brought me over the years.  I too grew up in the "Electronic Age" of
music, but the true musical sound of these acoustic instruments cannot
be duplicated by electronics.  It is also satisfying to know that these
mechanical wonders will not become obsolete and can be rebuilt to their
original conditions on and on.

How many computers and computer operated instruments will still be
playing 36 years from now?  Will their replacement parts even be
available then?  I doubt it.  I am not putting down these computer
controlled instruments for their wonderful musicality and versatility,
but the rebuildable workmanship is just not there.

Older instruments continue to entertain us more than 100 years after
their dates of manufacture.  To discard these machines because they are
not currently "in vogue" and don't command a large monetary value at
this time is something that I will never do.  Hopefully the appreciation
of vintage automatic music instruments will come full circle in the not
too distant future.

David Oppenheim

P.S.  Cecil Dover drove me from my motel to my first AMICA chapter
meeting in Los Angeles at the home of Ben and Mary Lillien in 1976.