How Things Came to Be...

Having grown up on the farm with a player piano in the parlor, as a boy I was always amazed
at the magic of putting a paper roll in the piano, pumping the pedals and having the piano bang
out a ragtime melody. We had lots of rolls and I was always amused by the variety of music that
they enjoyed back in the good old days. Then in my early 20's when quite by happenstance I was
thrown into player piano restoration, it was only natural for me to fall in love with those
beautiful old music boxes.  It was meant to be -it was in the stars.

The First Player That I Ever Restored...

     In 1964, the Farm Manager in the bank Trust Department where I worked announced one
day that one of the farmers to whom he had rented some farm land had donated a player piano to
a country school with the provision that when the school closed, the farmer would get the piano
back. The one-room school located east of Raymond, Ne. closed. The windows were broken out,
the roof was getting leaky, and the poor player piano still remained. The farmer said it was for
sale for $10 and my fellow bank employee, Dick Boswell agreed to buy it as he had restored a
player and was looking for another one. It was a Francis Bacon Standard action player. When
he got the piano to Lincoln, his wife would not let him bring the piano into the house as the
piano had been home to mice and it did not smell very good. I had some spare space in my garage
so Dick talked me into taking the piano for $10 as a "learner". Dick coached me through
restoring the player and it turned out to play really nice. I thoroughly cleaned and deodorized
the piano. After I pulled the loose wood veneer off I used a marine epoxy putty to fill in the
missing areas. I sanded it down and then antiqued the piano case an Amish blue. It again looked
really nice. I had just finished when I got a call from the new German restaurant (Der Loaf
Und Stien) that was opening in downtown Lincoln. Somehow they had learned that I may
have a player for sale and they desperately wanted a player and some German player piano rolls
to add to their decor. I popped them a price of $375 and they said, "when can you deliver it?"  
Over the phone, sight unseen, I had just turned a $10 investment into $375 (that was big money
back then.) Needless to say that after my first restoration job, I was hooked. I enjoyed the
challenge and the rewards of restoring a player and have had passion to do so ever since.

The Piano Factory's Humble Beginnings...

     My fellow employee--Dave Bulin--at Ace Hardware Corp.® was a very artistic and talented
individual who loved collecting antiques and was needing some extra storage space for his
accumulated purchases. I had a garage full of player pianos with the car parked outside so I was
looking for extra storage space too. When we discovered this building for rent at a reasonable
price at 1430 N 35 in Lincoln (it was an old store building for $50 per month with a month to
month lease), we jumped on it like a tall dog. I came up with the name "The Piano Factory" and
we painted this name across the front of the store. Our intention was to offer player restoration,
piano roll sales, and do some garage sale type selling from this building and we were determined
to have some fun doing it. (Dave created the artwork for the original business card and it is
actually a fairly good rendition of how the building looked minus the old truck, smoke stack,
and watertank in the background). We had just been in the building a few months when we got
the word that Valentinos Pizza had bought the building so we had to vacate and the building
was demolished to make room for a parking lot.

The Piano Factory Today...

      Over the years, most of my player piano work came about through "word of mouth"
advertising. So many times I was told, "I'm so glad to find you, I didn't know that anyone was
still in this business". I have had ladies cry when they heard their player piano play once again
because it brought back memories. I have restored many players for families wanting to create
memories and a family heirloom to pass on to their following generations. With player pianos
about to reach their 100th birthday, they should soon be in demand in the "Interior Decorator"
market. They are antique, unique, full of nostalgia, and are in limited supply.  So I continue to
see reasons for caring for these fine old instruments. Instead of retiring and ceasing to contribute
as a productive citizen, I choose to continue accepting the challenges or restoring player pianos.
I want to provide a service that is a "dying art" in today's modern hectic world. In addition, my
immediate goal is to recruit a dedicated younger apprentice who, after I hang up the reins, will
be available in Nebraska to continue servicing those wonderful old pumper player pianos. This is
what I intend  to be my legacy.
About The Piano Factory