One Minnesota repairman brings musical history back to life.

About a decade ago, Nate Otto opened Rum River Restoration in his Anoka garage to bring new life to the player piano.

“It’s a piano that has its own set up fingers and there’s a sense of life there,” Otto said. “When you put a roll in a historic piano and start pumping, it’s like a window back in time.”

Player pianos with music on paper rolls were popular in the early 1900’s

“There were about 2.6 million of these made and if you were anybody who was anybody you had a player piano in your house,” Otto said. “They were one of the first ways to get recorded music in your house.”

You needed big bank account to own player piano.

“A Model T cost around $350 back in the day and a player piano was $750 to a $1,000, so it was not a cheap investment.” Otto said.

The average restoration cost of a player piano is between $15,000 and $25,000.