Hi All,

First of all, my name is Greg Farmer.  I have been an old radio
collector for the past 25 years and along the way have picked up a few
cylinder and disk music boxes, a Gem Roller Organ, some small paper
roll  organs, rolmonicas, and even an Ampico grand piano. This past
summer, Jim Engel told me about this service and I have been enjoying
the articles ever since!

The aspect of collecting old radios, musical items, and other
mechanical things that I enjoy most is to take something that has
become deteriorated and restore it to as close to like-new condition as
possible. I have had to solve such a variety of problems over the years
that sometimes I think I can fix almost anything. That's what led me to
believe I could restore an Ampico grand piano with no prior player
piano restoration experience! I never finished it :( I spent several
years working on various aspects of it, but always had questions I
couldn't get answered. Luckily, I can play the piano by hand, so I used
it alot, but I never got it to play a note by itself.  Finally, I had
enough and sold it. Now that I found this group, I am wondering if I
should have kept it. Anyway, I am thinking about getting another piano
and would like some opinions.

Maybe this is of no interest to old piano buffs, but what is the
general opinion of some of the new player piano systems such as the
Yamaha Diskclavier, the Pianocorder, or others? I understand the appeal
of the old roll players, but am also attracted to some of the features
of modern systems. I am not interested in pianos with digital sound,
just 'real' pianos with a midi interface. These have mechanisms
(solenoids) which operate the keys and hammers. I have talked to a
local Yamaha dealer and he demonstrated how you can record, playback,
and also get recordings from other pianists, all on a computer
diskette. It plays with expression and actually operates the piano keys
(they move, causing the hammers to strike the strings) and it also
operates the pedals.  However, salesmen don't explain the drawbacks -
what are they?

Anyway, I'm really enjoying this group. I'm hoping it will help me find
more rolls for a McTamanny Mechanical Orguinette, help with basic
information for restoring small organ bellows, maybe help with a
cylinder music box I have that is missing its organ, and maybe even
find someone interested in a couple dozen Ampico rolls I don't have a
piano for anymore.

Greg Farmer