Greetings!  I have been trying for quite a while to get more people
here in Hawaii interested in mechanical music, in particular player
pianos and reproducers, with not much success.  As you can see in
the AMICA Membership Directory, I seem to be the only one in the
State of Hawaii interested in this "hobby".

Just recently a few youngsters have shown a curiosity in my Ampico
and bombarded me with questions about "How does it do that?"  None
has any knowledge about the inner workings of a piano and the
thought came to mind to make a mock-up of the mechanism that is
involved to effect striking a string when a key is depressed.
One's got to start somewhere, right!

A few years back an instructor at the local community college was
curious about punched paper rolls as a relates to player pianos
because of the analogy with the former IBM punched cards.  This
instructor taught high school kids computer skills and tried to
instill a curiosity about its inner workings.  She even thought out
loud about the possibility of taking a busload of her students to
my house to see first hand how punched holes were used to operate
a piano "in the olden days".  However, nothing materialized, mainly
because the instructor left the island.

Coming back to where I started with, is there anyone that could put
together a set of (old) parts for one key of both an upright and grand
piano?  I will then assemble it on a board in such a way that 'how does
it happen' can be demonstrated.  Needless to say, I would compensate
someone for gathering these items.  No need to include a key -- that
I can fake.

Can anyone help me out with this worthwhile project?  Maybe it will
trigger some follow up interest in these youngsters.  If you can help
me out you can contact at my e-mail address: <adeboer@hawaiiantel.net>

Albert de Boer
Hawaii

P.S.: One of my grandsons is definitely curious about what grandpa is
always doing in the garage.  Showing him recently my (small) collection
of antique mechanical watches even made him comment how clever it was
to make them work without a battery.