[ Wayne Lincoln wrote in 260627 MMDigest:

> A gentleman in Brooklyn [New York] has a Seeburg nickelodeon and
> an Ampico piano, both need attention. Looking for someone to help.
> Please contact me at 1-315-250-1063

I am a player Piano technician with 40 years experience. I called
the number listed and, going by the voicemail, it was a customer
I had been to recently. I spent several hours tuning and repairing
the Ampico piano, as well as troubleshooting the Seeberg coin piano.

The owner of the instruments was very upset when I told them it was
my belief that the instruments needed more time than the three hours
I had spent pitch raising and tuning, working on extremely sluggish
dampers, and troubleshooting the coin piano.

The work I recommended doing for Lenny was the minimum: repairing the
sustain pedal on the Ampico grand, and regarding the Seeburg coin
Piano, (1) the hammers were too far from the Strings; (2) I believe
the pneumatics need recovering; (3) the pump is very noisy and should
probably be rebuilt.

After spending all this time, Lenny said to me that I should go and
find someone else who is competent and come back and fix everything
in one service call.

Lenny was confident that this is all the work needed, and that I had
wasted my time. I walked out without getting paid anything. Good luck
to anyone willing to take this on.

Bill Maguire
Greenlawn, New York