This section is intended to help guide the reader as to what qualities to look for in a player piano technician, and to help familiarize the reader with some of the components and techniques used in player piano rebuilding in order to help the reader communicate better with the technician. When a person is considering spending thousands of dollars on having a player piano (or anything for that matter) rebuilt, it is a good idea to be as familiar as reasonably possible with the rebuilding process. Throughout this passage you will see highlighted words; click on the highlighted work to go to a page within this site that deals with that topic in more depth. There are several good
books written on the subject of player pianos, it may be worth your time to see if your local library has one or more of them on hand. Since the intent of this site is merely to pique the reader's interest in player pianos and at the same time enable the reader to better communicate with a technician, those interested in further exploring this subject are advised to see the books list located at this site. Publishers of these books can also be found on the
resources page.
The best player piano technicians are those who are also capable as piano technicians. The performance of a player mechanism depends directly on the condition of the piano itself. If the tone of the piano is poor due to rusty and corroded strings; if the hammers are flat and the leather is worn off the catchers so that the hammer will not check 5/8" from the string; if any one of hundreds of little parts is broken, worn, out of regulation or otherwise defective, then the full potential of the player mechanism will not be realized. With player mechanism rebuilds averaging into the thousands of dollars, it would be a shame to have a piano in poor shape ruin the enjoyment of having a player piano. On the flip side, I do realize that rebuilding the piano usually costs as much or more than rebuilding the player mechanism, but many times a player technician familiar with the piano action can stretch a few more years out of a set of hammers, and can replace the inevitable broken action parts and perform an action regulation on the piano to help make the piano suitable for the player mechanism.
Conscientious player piano rebuilders will rebuild mechanisms so that they perform as good or better than when they were new; while still preserving the mechanisms originality, and not making future restorations more difficult. For example, there are a variety of glues and adhesives on the market today; some have their applications in player piano work, and others do not. Materials must be carefully chosen, and must fit the application for which they are intended. Adding an automation kit (or suction motor and related components) usually does not detract from the value of a player piano if properly installed. Not just any rubber tubing and hose will do, some tubing will deteriorate in just a few years and some just looks cheap and unprofessional. The proper materials for player piano rebuilding do cost more than the improper materials - keep in mind that a technician who shortcuts on materials that you can see on the outside of the player mechanism will probably shortcut on the materials used on the inside of the player mechanism. It's one thing to use a cheap piece of hose that is easily replaced later by a technician who cares, but it can get really expensive to replace cheap materials used in the internal workings of a player mechanism.
Click here to go to the glossary of terms used in player piano repair and rebuilding.
RETURN to the Ragland Piano Co. player piano page.
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