My experiences with AMICA were not as traumatic as Damon Atchison's.
I never met any vicious lunatics, just some snobs and annoying
arrogant types.  There were also some friendly good hearted
individuals, even though some of them had a competitive streak in
them.  Can't be avoided, I suppose, because collecting does that
to some people.

Damon hit the nail on the head by bringing up the fact that AMICA
is far too dependent on expensive print media.  The AMICA Bulletin,
to me, was a mixed blessing.  One in three or four issues had content
that made me salivate, while the rest appeared to be little more than
filler so that an issue could be sent out by the promised publication
date.  Even then there were times when publication dates were missed.

There was far too much coverage of local meetings, etc.  I enjoy the
company of others interested in the hobby, but seeing pictures of
gatherings I could not attend seemed pointless.  I've not seen an issue
in nearly seven years so I cannot comment about it today.  Once the
Internet happened my need for the Bulletin and AMICA pretty much went
away.

About the only benefit I'd see in an AMICA membership would be the
opportunity to see the Sanfilippo collection during a convention in
Chicago or to visit Richard Reutlinger's house in nearby San Francisco.
Even so, I don't a lot of time for socializing with a wife and three
small boys.  I'm not sure that we'd be welcome in those homes with kids
in tow, anyway.

I don't think organizations are the answer to sustaining the hobby.
The key is a vibrant marketplace for instruments and recordings.

The problem is that the instruments themselves are seen as being in
short supply and are too expensive to restore.  This may or may not be
true.  The friends who come to visit my home and see my Duo-Art would
gladly purchase one instead of a new Korean or Chinese piano of
questionable quality.  We all know that good players in decent repair
can be had for the same price or less than the Asian "junk" we see in
the music stores.  The problem is I cannot point to a reliable source
of good, working, affordable instruments.

I've already made my opinions clear as far as the market for recut
rolls is concerned and I'll let those who don't know and are interested
read the Archives to see them.  Lets just say, it could be better.

We have a "Catch 22" situation as far as the marketplace is concerned.
No-one would open a storefront to sell mechanical instruments because
of lack of demand, and we don't have a market for them because they
appear to be unobtainable.  As it stands, we're left with a hobby that
is made up of obsessives: those who see their first instrument and
will do anything to have one.  How many of us would play golf or fly
model airplanes if the merchandise were as hard to obtain?

I realize this is an unfair comparison; AMICA is more akin to, say,
MAFCA, the Model A Ford Club of America.  Even so, if you look at the
want ads on the MAFCA web site, there appears to be a nice supply of
affordable cars available.

Ed Chaban