Hello, it's me, once more, with newbie question.  :-)  I want a player piano :

 * It should _not_ be a modern make, but one with air-pipes and
paper-rolls.  :-)

 * It should not be an "expression-reproducing piano".  I play piano
myself (albeit very ... medium), so I don't need just another piano
player at home.  I want _Mechanical_ music, not mechanical _Music_.

 * It should already work.  (But I think I am a quite good metal- and
wood-worker, and I love to repair broken cameras of unknown make -- they
really work afterwards -- so I can definitely tinker around when there
are some (minor) problems.  I would read Mr. Reblitz's book before that,
of course.)

 * It should not be to expensive.  (What _is_ expensive?  I have no
idea about prices or, for that matter, how to evaluate the quality.)

 * It should somehow, at the end, be in Germany.  (But I have quite
a few relatives and friends, and even a bank account, on the U.S.
West Coast ...)

A "Vorsetzer" (what is this in English?) would also be okay, for my
current $200 out-of-tune piano (which should be replaced anyway ...).

 [ It's a "push-up player", unless it is a reproducing system like
 [ Welte-Mignon, then we use the German word "Vorsetzer".  -- Robbie

Here in Germany, I know only of one company that sometimes sells
"machines", but I don't want to talk to them without first having a
little knowledge about "the market".  (I like to call mechanical music
instruments "machines".  That's more important to me than that they make
music -- I can do that myself.)

Thanks for any and all advice!

Harald M. Mueller

 [ I think you seek a coin piano ("nickelodeon") or orchestrion, Harald.
 [ A player piano has no pipes -- only a piano -- and most piano rolls
 [ attempt to sound "human" instead of "mechanical".  The 10-tune music
 [ rolls for the coin piano play at constant volume (more or less) and
 [ so the musical arrangement sounds more mechanical.  Of course, since
 [ coin pianos and orchestrions are rare, a common player piano is less
 [ expensive.  There are some wonderful museums nearby you, in Germany
 [ and Austria and France and Switzerland, where you can see and hear
 [ restored coin pianos and orchestrions made in Europe and USA.  See
 [ Musica mecanica, http://www.cnam.fr/museum/.musica_mechanica/  for
 [ a list of museums.  Then you will know what your heart _really_
 [ desires!  :)  -- Robbie