Hello everybody:  I too, have been absent from postings for a very
long time.  My interest, however, in automatic music never goes away,
so I'm always reading the posts.

Recently, and not so recently, I've seen Pianomation operated grand
pianos in public places.  It always thrills me when I see it, because
it reminds me that there are other people that _still_ fully appreciate
automatic piano music, and that it's not a vanishing passing fad.  One
piano is at Abbott Northwestern Heart Hospital in Minneapolis, and the
other is at Menards [home improvement store] in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

I just saw the one at the hospital, and it's been a few years since
I saw the one at Menards.  I don't mean to step on anyone's toes, but
both these pianos are a pathetic display of what a reproducing piano
is and does.  It looks like the problem is that the venue owners don't
want the pianos to be obtrusively loud, so they turn the electronic
controls down to whisper level.  The problem is that, at these settings,
the piano action is not fully activated.

The piano at Menards sounded like a wind chime in a very gentle summer
breeze.  I was unable to detect what musical piece was being played
(because of the lack of notes).  The piano at the hospital sounded a
little better in that I could tell that it was playing a musical piece,
as opposed to just "ringing".  But It was turned down so low that you
could hear piano action noises above the music level with probably a
deficit of 20 percent notes missing.  I hate to see this -- it makes
these instruments and the whole idea seem like a big joke.

I have a suggestion: I don't know if it would help or not, but
something needs to be done.  I think more people would purchase or
lease these instruments if they were performing better.

Has anyone tried filling the cavity under the soundboard with
insulation to dampen the sound?  It could be done under the top lid as
well (with some sort of support to keep the material from muting the
strings).  The insulation under the soundboard could be held in with
retaining wires, belly cloth or even a neatly screwed in piece of
particle board.  By doing this, couldn't the volume controls could be
turned up so that the piano plays fully, but yet quietly?

I remember back in the "Pianocorder days" there were a couple of
installers that would mount the solenoids closer to the balance rail
to achieve the same goal; maybe weighting the keys would help also.

It just breaks my heart to see these instruments faltering like this
in public.

Dale Wilson