The Purchase:  All those MMD discussions about restoring player pianos
finally took their toll -- I bought an upright player at an auction
this summer.  The price was right, it was only across town, and my
wife agreed.

The Good News: The player mechanism itself was easily repaired, and
all seems to be working properly with a minimum of difficulty.  It's
a Simplex action, and a good cleaning, some odds and ends, and a few
hoses later, and I'm satisfied at present.

The Bad News: This is a sad piano action.  All the felt is deterior-
ating, and although all the notes "play", most of the hammers don't
even escape, and I'd have to replace every piece of felt and adjust at
every point.  I'm not an expert at either repair or playing, but I can
see the problems (and the possible expense).  Is this common?

The Question: What to you "experts" recommend in such a situation?
Go ahead and restore?  Keep the player and throw out the piano?
Find another player and throw out everything?  Live with it?

Thanks, all

Todd Augsburger
allmax@bright.net
http://www.bright.net/~allmax/index.htm

 [ I'd say it's quite common that an unwanted 80-year-old piano has
 [ deteriorating felt, and maybe you're lucky that rodents didn't chew
 [ on the wood!  You might find a piano in better condition into which
 [ you could install the Simplex player action, though your time and
 [ money would be better spent upon the existing piano.  -- Robbie