I was the consultant for an installation and it was amerteurish. They stapled through the speaker wires. The simulacrum is still working fine, as I play it at least once a year when I travel to the town.
Sounds like the one you play is suffering abuse of some kind.
It was played by a then-DMA candidate performance major so it was certainly treated with respect and used appropriately. I think it was just a “get what you pay for” scenario. At the time I think it cost all of 8-10k brand new.
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