Hi Wilson.  Just a few comments that might be helpful in deciding to buy
and restore or buy a restored mechanical instrument (my experience is
limited to player pianos).  I would venture to say that if you possess the
patience and skill to do fine woodworking then you probably would do a
very decent job of restoring a 'regular' player piano.  Some of your
skills will certainly come in handy, however, there are many other skills
to develop (note the recent digest talk on using hot glue, for example).

There are some very good books on the subject by Arthur Reblitz, which
will give a beginner a very good idea of what's involved.  I'm sorry that
I don't have the exact titles to give you here (my books are being
borrowed), but I'm sure someone reading the Digest can.

I mentioned a 'regular' player as opposed to a reproducing player, such
as an Ampico or Duo-Art.  The reproducers (as in reproducing dynamics and
tempo of the original performance) are significantly more complicated.
I think most would agree that some practice rebuilding a simpler
instrument would be a good idea before trying to tackle something of
this order.

Finding an old player to restore should not be too difficult.  I found
two of them in my local paper (south Florida) over the last two years.
Do keep in mind that it is a tremendous amount of work to do a complete
restoration, even on a simple upright player.  If you get into it thinking
to make a profit I would advise against keeping track of hours spent.
I have one player for sale now and will be lucky to make $1.00 per hour
for my time!  It is a lot of fun and very satisfying to bring one back
to life; an experience you won't get if buying a restored instrument.
Hope this helps.

Michael Concordia