I recently bought a Coinola Cupid.  I consider these somewhat rare as
they seldom come up for sale.  This particular piano was on Flea-Bay
one morning with a nice set of photos showing what looked like a mint
unrestored Coinola Cupid.  The description said that the case was a
little rough.  The price was a starting bid of $200.00.  I thought
about bidding on it and looked at some other items listed.

When I returned to the listing I noticed the "Buy It Now" price that
I had overlooked.  This truly had to be a mistake but I went ahead and
pressed the buy button.  I waited a couple of days for the seller to
get back to me.  He finally called and told me he was selling it for
a friend in Ft. Worth, Texas, which was great for me as it is about
a three and a half hour drive from my house.  I set up a time to meet
him and rushed over the next morning.

I first made sure he was happy with the price and proceeded to take
a look at the piano stored outside under an open carport.  He was
concerned that I had tarps with me to make sure it didn't get rained
on during its ride to my home.  I didn't have tarps but I really wasn't
worried as I was watching the radar on my trusty cell phone -- not the
wisest thing to do in Texas.  I proceeded to take a look at the piano
and it was 100 percent complete, down to the distributor's nameplate
on the front.  I was pretty pleased so far.

We then took the cardboard off the case that was a "little rough".
The friend of his that listed the piano failed to mention that it was
rough because it had been stored on a wall that was full of termites!
The plate was leaning out from the pinblock an inch, give or take a
little.  The back post and pinblock fell out as we pulled the piano
away from the wall.  The sides of the case were nice but missing some
areas due to the termites that started in the top and worked their way
down.  I was no longer concerned about not having a tarp.  I thought
that at least the parts were good and that I could do the woodwork in
a weekend.

Well, three weeks later I am still milling, planing and cutting new
wood as well as doing veneer work.  I guess that makes for one long
weekend.  The inside parts were mint and no rust on the metal, which
was a pleasant surprise.  The piano now has a new pinblock, back post,
all support bracing, and the soundboard was saved.  One new rib on the
soundboard with a little (a lot!) cleaning and it looks really good.

For some reason I have always wanted one of these Tiny Coinolas or
Cupid.  They changed the name of this model from Cupid to Tiny Coinola
about 1921.  This one is serial number 8989.  It is one of the higher
known serial numbers, with the lowest numbered one in the low 8,000s
and the highest numbered one in the low 9,000s.  The last ones made
also came with either flute pipes or a xylophone.

I have known of two with pipes and two with xylophones.  One of the
pipe models was in the Canton, Texas, flea market in the 1970s and
the other one with pipes that I know of was in the Miles Mountain
Musical Museum.  One with xylophone was advertised in Antique Trader
in the 1970s and another one was restored by Art Reblitz.  If you know
of any others then please make a note of the serial number and stack
number.

The seller was the son of the original owner.  He wanted to know if
I wanted the rolls and I said "Sure, how much?"  He gave me the twenty
rolls he had saved.  Eighteen of them were Mexican rolls and one was a
Capitol roll I had been wanting.  This machine had been in Corsicana,
Texas, in a Mexican business until the 1930s when it was moved to the
owner's garage where it has sat for the past eighty years.  The owner
was going to take it to the dump and was glad I wanted to restore it.

All the original tubing was still in place.  I had always assumed
that these pianos would have been tubed like a Seeburg Junior; the one
I know of is tubed like a Seeburg Junior but this one isn't.  The top
five notes in a Seeburg are teed into the octave below as the top five
notes are not in the 54-note harp.  This piano starts the tubing with
the top note and continues down 54 notes.  The tubing is criss-crossed
behind the roll frame so any style "A" roll will play on it.  The
bottom four notes in the roll are not tubed so therefore they are
ignored.  It plays 54 of the 58 notes of an "A" roll.

Can anyone who is reading this, who has an original Coinola Cupid, tell
me if the top playing note is tuned to A?  Does anyone know of a Cupid
with flute pipes or xylophone that can tell me the playing notes of the
extra instrument?  The harp is almost identical to the harp in the
Seeburg Junior.

Don Teach
Shreveport, Louisiana