"Ramblings from an Old Man"

I got an email from a MMD'er about my comments on the Steinway L
in New Mexico and thought I would share these rambling thoughts with
other MMD'ers.  Many of you have read my comments over the years
since MMD was started with some kind comments sent to me.  I thank
those of you with the kind comments.

Steinway model L's were a replacement for the model O and were
introduced, I think, in 1927 or close to that date.  The model O was
a great sounding piano.  Personally I think the L was less of a piano
and cut cost.  The L on a Steinway plate if it is cast into the plate is
the date code.  I used to remember all those details back when I worked
for CBS and CBS owned Steinway.

I was a traveling salesman in Leslie speaker division, always visiting
piano shops looking for reproducing pianos and nickelodeons.  I would
spend all my spare time chasing down people that may have had an
interest in player pianos.  I found a lot of unknown collectors across
the country (not MBSI or AMICA members).

A lot of Seeburg L models and Reproducos were out there and I think
I may have bought close to ten Seeburg L's during those years.  In
Texas I found one Wurlitzer CX or LX with the original owners that
I could not buy, as well as a Nelson-Wiggin keyboard piano.

The Bowers Encyclopedia was the only source to identify nickelodeons.
I found several nickelodeons that were not in the book.  As great
a book as the Encyclopedia was in those days it did not have all the
models of Coinola, Seeburg, and others pictured.  I found more
nickelodeons scattered across Texas than anywhere else, but then it is
big state.  I picked up a Wurlitzer BX in a feed store in Kansas which
I still own.  I had several dozen reproducers in those years (1970s).

Today I find reproducers a hard item to move, especially today.
I always wanted an art case Steinway and only found a couple which
I could not afford.  One was a Louie XVI with the round fluted legs
and I did find a Steinway with cherubs carved all over it.  Both were
10,000.

There was a lot of activity in the 1970's with a ton of rebuilders.
There were few restorers that did really top notch cosmetic work.
One of the first restorers whose work I admired was Iver Becklund and
his brother Ray.  Iver was in California and Ray had moved to Texas.

In the Dallas area there was a lot of activity with Bill Powell doing
the best refinishing I had ever seen with his shop full of illegal
immigrants.  Every Thanksgiving time they would all go out and get
drunk where the police would find them so they could get a free trip
home to Mexico.  Every January they would return to Dallas one by one.

Even today, with the wonders of the Internet, there are still music
boxes, nickelodeons, and reproducers being found.  They were never
lost, just not found by a collector until now.  Today a lady sent
me a picture of her family piano wanting to know about it.  It was
a Coinola X in Arkansas that I would have never found.

I have had two people send me pictures of Seeburg E Specials that
belonged to an old aunt or other relative so I believe there are still
lots of pianos out there if you want to have one.

Don Teach