I've just joined MMD and would like to introduce myself. I live in
Hertfordshire, England, and I'm a member of the Player Piano Group.
I discovered MMD on the Internet purely by chance, whilst browsing for
player piano topics. Looking through the MMD archives revealed a whole
host of fascinating articles and I subscribed without hesitation!
My interest in mechanical musical instruments started in 1982, at the
age of sixteen, when I joined a local music store as a trainee piano
technician. After a brief introduction to the principles of piano
refurbishment, my first assigned task was to restore a player piano
by Chappell of London. Having made quite a reasonable job of the piano
action and keyboard, my attention turned to the player mechanism, for
which no technical information was locally available. In search of
appropriate reading material, I visited the Autoplayer Piano Company
in Slough (yes, Slough again!) and purchased a copy of 'Rebuilding the
Player Piano' by Larry Givens. This proved to be an invaluable source
of information.
Due to constraints of time and economics, I was not permitted to
carry out a complete restoration of the player components. Neverthe-
less, recovering the striker pneumatics and air motor, followed by
replacement of the main hoses, resulted in an airtight system that was
easy to pedal.
Sadly, I left the piano trade after nearly five years, mainly for
financial reasons. By this time, I was proud to have restored quite
a number of old pianos and the occasional player.
In 1991, I acquired a Steck pedal Duo-Art for my own use and although
it has always performed reasonably well (with brisk pedalling!),
it is long overdue for a rebuild. Hopefully, restoration will finally
commence during April and I will report any progress or difficulties
via the discussion pages.
Best wishes to all,
Ian McLaughlin (ian_mclaughlin@anite.com)
[ It's a pleasure to welcome another member from the UK, Ian. I hope
[ you'll write more about your past adventures with mechanical music!
[ -- Robbie
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