"Being mechanical devices, pianos wear out with use and because of the natural deterioration of perishable rubber parts, as well as insect [chew felts] and mouse damage [chew on wood and felt and urinate on metal parts which cause corrosion].
The piano on its back receiving new strings. Note that the keybed and mechanism have been removed.
"The piano was untunable and sounded terrible.
"It had sticking notes and the player mechanism was completely non-functioning.
"It required nothing short of a full rebuild."
Powell took the pianola away to his workshop in Wellington and started the restoration in February before finishing it recently.
"It involved almost complete disassembly of the piano followed by the repair of such things as the bass bridge, and the replacement of strings and other parts.
"Many of the piano action [mechanism] parts were replaced and nearly all of the felt, leather, cloth, rubber hose, and so on, was replaced.
"The key tops were also replaced as the original ivory was almost completely missing.
"Some wooden parts were remade from scratch."
The restoration was fairly straightforward although the nature of the job meant unexpected challenges arose.
Di Buchan, a trustee of the museum, was delighted with the restoration.
"The whole thing about having the pianola in the museum is that it's working so people can see what it's for.
"We didn't think we'd ever be able to get it working because it was going to cost so much and then the Phillipp Family Foundation said they would pay for it.
"It has been wonderful and Stephen has done an amazing job restoring it."
The pianola, also called the player piano, is a piano that has a pneumatic mechanism so that it can play by itself.
The air for this system came from a pump operated by the player's feet. Inside the piano are paper rolls that have holes punched in. These holes release air which in turn triggers the keys to play. When the pianola plays itself the keys of the piano can be seen 'playing themselves'.
