Player Piano Care

     I have been working in Chicago all week and have had the priviledge of working on several great player pianos.  One reminded me of the upright pumper in "The Music Man", one of my favorite musicals.  When I bought another tuners business in 2006 I acquired about 200 player customers.  I don't think I have that many any more as every customer eventually comes to a point where the player needs to be rebuilt and some choose to remove the player mechanism or just toss the whole piano. 
     Those paper rolls cantain some great music that is often lost.  If the choice is throwing away the whole piano or just the player machine it is better to keep the piano as some of these instruments are great pianos that have been neglected because of the player machine making the piano inaccessible for the average tuner.  I have been forced to get out of the player rebuilding business because the time working on a player impacted my availability to me piano customers too much. 
     For a time these players were great to use for families and friends to gather around and sing along or just have the fun of making great music with your feet.  I also worked on a grand piano that is a player this week.  You need a big room for a grand and an even bigger room for a grand player as they often are very loud.  Just like a grand piano can have a much richer sound than a smaller piano a grand player can have a much greater sound than a smaller player.
     I guess as I get older I likie to hold on to older things and knowing that great player pianos are getting to be a thing of the past makes me a little sad.  If you have a player in the chicago or south Florida area and are thinking about getting rid of it I hope you will call me first or find me through my web site at renshawmusic.com.