I agree with the last MMD posting by Don Teach.  There is a even worse
side of the coin than a "restored" coin piano sold in questionable
shape.

There is a kind elderly couple living near me.  The woman told me,
"We just bought a antique nickelodeon"!  I asked her what brand it was;
she said, "J. P. Seeburg".  She wanted me to service it.

I never questioned the validity of this Seeburg, since that was a
recognized name.  Well, it was a J. P. Seeburg all right: a regular non-
player upright that had been filled up with a musical (I use that term
really loosely) plastic R.A.M. system!

I once owned one of these non-player Seeburgs, and traded it to MMD'er
John Rutoskey.  It was in very bad shape, but I thought the strung back
and parts could be used in something else, so I hung on to it.

Removing the R.A.M. stack to regulate the keys and work on the action
was a nightmare.  The control tubing was stuffed between the action
breaks.  I could go on and on about what's wrong with this system, but
I won't.  (Check the MMD archives.)

With the new art glass this piano was handsome, but this is where it
ended.  I restrung the piano, reinstalled that plastic action, and left
it at that.  A short year later, many of the pouches had blown out
internally so I contracted to install a new QRS Pianomation unit in a
"stack" configuration.  She had heard my prototype unit, and really
liked the way it worked, so I installed it that way.  She's finally
happy with her piano, after spending far more than what it was worth.

She told me, "I thought Seeburg was a better piano than that."
I stated they were an excellent piano, however, your piano was
originally a non- player, and the piano had not been restored, but
retrofitted with the plastic action, and refinished.

Point was this lady thought she had the "real thing" and it was
presented as an original Seeburg.  Well, it _was_ a Seeburg and it
did have "original" felts, strings, hammers and pins!

The 'Net and eBay is littered with these things.  With rare exceptions,
the text reads with misleading things like "antique", "original",
"nickelodeon", "coin piano" -- all intended to hoodwink the public into
thinking that this is a rare, valuable and original coin piano from the
era.  I have also noticed that these do not get many bids.

There is nothing wrong with build-ups if they are presented for what
they are.  In the hands of a skilled craftsman, one can be created that
is as much fun to listen to as the original thing.

The fellow who builds these things knows better than this.  He has
a nice facility and could do a lot better if they would just "design"
_before_ building something.  But, sadly, the management has no
intentions to change the design.

Andy Taylor