THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September, 2, 1994 TAG: 9408310143
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JANELLE LA BOUVE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
THEODORE DeWITT WAS first attracted to player pianos by their spooky quality - the delightful music, the keys plunking up and down as if a friendly ghost were at the keyboard.
His early fascination grew into a profession.
For more than three decades, DeWitt has been rebuilding and repairing player pianos for customers from all over Hampton Roads. DeWitt Player Piano Repair has been at the same South Battlefield Boulevard location for 17 years.
Four years ago, he diversified, adding a second shingle and offering stained glass supplies for sale.
DeWitt took piano lessons for a time. But he could never learn to coordinate the movements of his left hand with those of his right. Because of this, a piano that required nothing more than to pump a foot pedal appealed to him.
He bought his first player piano from Goodwill Industries in 1958.
``It was in bad condition,'' the 56-year-old DeWitt recalled. ``Just about all the player materials had deteriorated. It took about a year to rebuild. The first one always take the longest.
``I didn't know anything about them at the time,'' he said. So he went around to different music stores seeking some expertise on the subject.
He found help in Frank Warner. Warner, who was 78 years old at the time, repaired and rebuilt pianos for Temple of Music in Norfolk. DeWitt asked Warner to teach him his craft. He apparently learned well.
Since then, DeWitt has used his skill to bring pleasure to people like Betty Smith.
On a recent visit to DeWitt's shop, Smith recounted her childhood joy at pumping away on her grandmother's old player piano.
``That piano was probably the biggest thing in my life,'' she said. In later years, Smith managed to track down the old piano that belonged to her grandmother.
``We got a truck and went to West Virginia to get the piano. I called Ted Monday morning and told him to come and fix it.''
When DeWitt told Smith the piano was beyond repair, she suspected that he just wanted the instrument for himself.
``I was crushed,'' she said. But when she offered to sell the piano to DeWitt, he declined. Then Smith faced reality.
A few years later, she bought another player piano.
``It was going to cost $250 to have it repaired,'' she said. ``I didn't have that much money. But when we could afford it, Ted rebuilt the piano for us. It was the pride of my life. I still have it. This man is Mr. Patience. That's how I see Ted, working on a piano.''
When her grown children come back to visit, the player piano still provides entertainment for them.
Recently DeWitt traded his own upright player for a grand player, and when he finds time, he'll rebuild it.
``Most players are 70 and 80 years old, and sooner or later they all need to be repaired,'' DeWitt said.
``They all used rubberized cloth for the bellows,'' he said. ``The felts which pad the hammers, the keys and the piano action are made out wool. Moths eat the wool, or it gets hard.'' The strings in the tuning pins also loosen with age. ``I replace them with oversized pins, which must driven into the wood. They are very finely threaded, with about 200 threads to the inch.''
During the 1920s, when the instruments were new, an upright player piano cost between $500 and $600, he said. Today, extensive rebuilding and repair of an upright might run $3,000. The same kind of work on a grand player costs considerably more.
DeWitt said he has rebuilt as many as 18 players in a single year. ``It's tedious, time-consuming work,'' he said.
DeWitt also tunes pianos, a skill he gained through a correspondence course and practice.
In the back room of DeWitt's shop, a piano action assembly, shaped like the body of a grand piano, was propped casually against a work table. A fresh coat of gold paint left a near-new appearance. But the date on the mechanism - 1837 - showed that the manufacturer, Knabe of Baltimore, Md., has been around a while.
Rolls of felt hung on wall pegs. Bottles of glue were perched on shelves. A black, rubber hammer lay on a stack of paper towels. A fresh package of faded red cleaning rags were perched on a chair.
About eight years ago, DeWitt started working with stained glass as a hobby.
Then the store where he bought his supplies sold out. Prices were high at other suppliers. So when some folks said they'd buy their stained glass supplies from him, DeWitt decided to take on a new line of goods.
Now an assortment of stained glass pieces fill his shop windows. In the showroom, glass Mason jars filled with pastel-colored glass nuggets line the shelves. Panels of stained glass in a wide variety of colors and sizes are displayed in compartments.
The business offers classes for people who want to learn to work with stained glass. The next class will begin in mid-September. Alan Donley will teach a maximum of six people in the two-hour, four- to seven-week course. MEMO: For information, call 421-8322.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Theodore DeWitt rebuilds and repairs player pianos at his shop on
South Battlefield Boulevard.
by CNB