[ Kathleen Cilker wrote in 080923 MMDigest:

> I have an 88-year-old Bösendorfer, 6'2", that my mother gave to me ...
> It is a blessing to my heart. ... Would you install a solenoid player
> on a piano like this? ... The piano is part of our family and is not
> looked at in any other light.

My very emotional answer is, in this special case: Never!

My mother, living near Vienna, Austria, where the Bösendorfer factory
is still located, also owns a Bösendorfer grand from the 1920s (I do
not know the exact age) with the old "Viennese mechanics" instead of
the newer, faster English mechanics.  That latter fact alone makes
these instruments special, in my humble opinion.

Having survived a World War and numerous relocations (a few of them
because of that horrible war), it works flawlessly to this day.  Like
yours, our piano is not just a piano but has been a family member all
the time, and I cannot imagine that one "installs" anything on a family
member (and my sisters would anyway kill me if I even hinted at such
a thing ...).

As I said, a very emotional answer.

Best regards,
Harald M. Müller
Grafing bei München
Germany