Hello all, this thread brings back memories...  My first ever piano was
a Wolff, Berlin.  I outgrew it when I was around 15 and in the piano
shop was a beautiful German piano with carvings, great finish and all.
It sounded good and my dad wanted to buy it.

Next to the German piano was a totally dilapidated player piano without
any player mechanism which sounded absolutely fantastic.  I was into
boogie woogie, Fats Domino and stuff like that.  That player piano was
out of this world and it was a Triumph Autopiano.  After tons of begging
my dad bought it for me and the shop owner sold it to my dad for the
same price as the beautiful German piano, including restoration.  My
dad wasn't too happy with all that but he went for it anyway.  The shop
then proceeded to refinish and repair it.

It was absolutely marvelous and I still think of it today as the best
sounding piano, and with an outstanding touch, that I ever had.  The
piano shop owner (later my friend) explained to me that the sound was
so good because player pianos were always outstanding pianos to begin
with and because there was no player action to muffle it.  He also
taught me that the touch was so good because the length of the keys
in a player piano give it much better mechanical advantage to a normal
piano.  I have never owned a normal piano since and I have never been
disappointed.

Best regards,
Bernt Damm
Sydney