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MMD > Archives > December 1999 > 1999.12.27 > 05Prev  Next


Gulbransen Player Restorer
By D. L. Bullock

John Chiffer is looking for a Gulbransen player piano rebuilder.

Piano World, in St. Louis, Missouri,  restores Gulbransens but is
_not_ the thoughtless rebuilder mentioned in other posts.

We would never consider rebuilding any player stack without the piano
present.  That is simply irresponsible.  A player piano is only as good
as the piano it is playing and as good as the regulation to the piano
it is playing.  80% of problems with well-rebuilt players is the piano
action and the regulation to the piano.

We disassemble the Gulbransen stack completely.  We do not cut the
decks apart like some folks I know.  We do put the decks back with
gaskets.  We go to great pains to make sure that channels in the boards
do not fill with glue when we glue back the pneumatic/pouch units.
(That's the biggest problem with Gullys.)  We use original materials
with no synthetic materials.  We give a 5-year warranty on all parts
and labor but they end up being as trouble-free as they were new.
We charge a little more to rebuild a Gulbransen or a Schultz than we
charge for a normal player restoration.  Our restorations are a bargain
but are not cheap.

A well-restored Gulbransen is so airtight that you can pump it up
and go fix a sandwich before you need pedal it again. :o)))   (slight
exaggeration).

We restore players from all over the country and Mexico.  Our restora-
tions include instruments that went from our shop to Pensacola FL,
Los Angeles CA, Green Bay WI, Sunnyvale CA, Dallas, Wichita Falls TX,
Denver CO, Austin TX, Newfoundland and Mexico.

D. L. Bullock    Piano World    St. Louis

 [ No doubt, the sandwich is for the Gulbransen Baby (of the advert ;).
 [ But I believe you -- many years ago I pedaled a well-rebuilt
 [ Simplex action in a Wurlitzer console.  It played for five to ten
 [ seconds after I left (to fix a sandwich)!  Enough energy was stored
 [ in the reserve that a 25-foot roll would rewind completely.  (An
 [ accenting valve, like in the Baldwin Manualo, had been added so
 [ that the big reserve didn't diminish pedaled accents.)  -- Robbie


(Message sent Mon 27 Dec 1999, 22:59:24 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.)

Key Words in Subject:  Gulbransen, Player, Restorer

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