Hello!  Dan Wilson wrote:

> In England ... old players still exist ... in fossilised form in
> stupendous number - far more than can ever be adopted by the thousand
> or so aficionados.  The cost of restoring them increases as their
> condition deteriorates, so there is now unlikely to be a great
> resurgence in interest.

Does he mean that in England there are literally thousands of unwanted
player pianos, wasting away?  For some reason (advent of the Pianocorder
and Disklavier? yesterday's youngsters coming of age?) the player piano
seems less popular today than, say, in the 'seventies and 'eighties.

With the hand-cranked paper-roll organs (such as the 20-note variety)
it's different.  In the 'eighties only Carl Frei and Hofbauer built them,
now do the "Orgelbauer" come by the dozens!  Can anyone explain that?

Wein und Sonnenschein!
Christofer Noering
Stockholm