Currently I am restoring an Ampico type "A" for a client who
must unfortunately be charged a premium over the regular restoration
cost.  Why?  The previous owner asked that age-old trick question,
"How hard can these things really be to restore?" and found out.

Not only was the work poorly done and the paucity of technique and
experience blatantly evident, resulting in a mechanism that hardly
played at all, much less correctly interpreting the expression as
the factory intended, but the damage done forced me to remake and
spend hours removing lumps of white glue clogging vacuum channels,
super-glued pouches (made of rubber gloves cut up in vague
resemblance to pouch circles) and others too horrific to mention
here, especially to those of a delicate constitution.

If you have never restored a pneumatic instrument before, _please,_
in the name of common decency, practice your learning curve on several
(not just one) foot-pumped players slated for the junkyard.  Read the
appropriate books, ask questions, practice gluing techniques and make
pneumatic decks from scrap wood, using cheap cloth to practice your
techniques on.

Don't take your arrogance and ignorance and lack of technique out
on an innocent antique reproducing piano, coin-operated piano or
orchestrion.  You will soon find out for yourself how difficult
"these things" can be to restore properly -- especially when you
throw up your hands after mutilating original mechanisms and finally
bow to the inevitable of either letting the whole thing just "sit",
or calling an experienced, qualified restorer/conservator to bail you
out -- at a cost much higher than if you had the wisdom to contact
them originally, and be content to build models or pursue some other
historically/mechanically non-destructive pursuit!

Stephen K Goodman -
Professional Player Piano & Nickelodeon Restoration Services
Tarpey Village (Fresno/Clovis) California, USA
http://www.mechanicalmusicrestoration.com/