Although I know a lot about fixing player pianos, nickelodeons, pump organs and reproducing instruments, doing business on the Internet is still interesting and challenging. I have discovered a world of knowledge and experience exists on the Internet and I have tapped into every source I've found. Even if I can't answer your question/s directly, I can usually find the answers in relatively short order. My E-Mail involvement with numerous professional rebuilders, collectors and enthusiasts has opened up 'databases' of information that twenty years ago would have taken decades to accumulate. Specific questions relating to repair and restoration processes, testing procedures, player mechanisms are always welcome. However, I am not a good source for information relating to values of music rolls or mechanical musical instruments because I do not buy or sell these items.

I use to enjoy fishing and camping in New Jersey a lot more often, but I've had so little time these days that I'm no longer very good at catching fish, but I've become a pro at drowning worms. My hobbies are still composing music, poetry, and writing. I am still working on my first book which will be titled "I love a Player" (the preface). It is going to be the first children's guide to understanding the principles of operation that allow the player piano to work. My hope is that I can keep it simple enough for a child to understand and thereby entice youngsters to consider the trade as a livelihood. I am forever being asked about an apprentice. I've trained more than my share of young men AND women. If I can spirit one or more young people into the trade by capturing their imagination with my book before I retire, I will have achieved my goal. I hope to complete it by 2025. The chapter on the pouch and valve can be seen at "I love a Player"(the book). I continue to spend time writing Testing Procedures for some of the major components of the player system.