The first player piano I looked at buying was downstairs in a basement,
through a doorway, in another room, behind the furnace.  It had peeling
felt on most of the treble hammers, veneer sheets peeling loose on the
case, several 4-inch squares missing and chipped veneer pieces, a
plywood-repaired lower piano frame, warped wood lower door (with a
large metal pipe sticking through a hole cut in it for external vacuum
source), most ivory missing, and the upper 1/3 of the keys wouldn't
sound the strings.  To top it off, it had an Artemis action, which the
old Player Piano Co. catalog mentions as "poorly engineered and performing".

Now, after looking at 6 or so other pianos, and finally buying a quite
nice Standard action player for only $100, I feel very sorry for this
guy.  He will have to spend $200 just to have the movers bring it up
and put it on the curb for the garbage men.

... And then there was the $1,500 "Mint Condition" player piano that
couldn't even play the QRS test roll.  (This is true!)

Happy Holidays!

Rick Inzero, Northern Telecom, Inc. Rochester, NY,  rdi@cci.com