Violano, Duo-Art, Ads, et. al...
By Ed Gloeggler
In reply to Pete Docter's mail about the Mills Violano, the inventor was Henry K. Sandell, a Swedish immigrant. Contrary to rumor, Sandell didn't go insane and lived on to a good old age in Chicago. Much has been written about the Violano in mechanical music books and Mike Kitner and Art Reblitz "The Mills Violano-Virtuoso," contains lots about Sandell. I believe Reblitz has a few copies of this book available. Apparantly Sandell was quite a character who believed he received messages "from the other side," but that's another story. There are probably some 1000 Violanos remaining today, making it one of the more common mechanical machines out there. I have had one for about a year and it's a joy for the kids, and a consumer of thousands of hours of tuning and "fiddling" time. Parts, recut rolls and literature are fairly available.
On another note, I live here on Long Island by the ocean and the humidity problems are terrible. In the summer there's 100% and when the heat is on, there's 10%. Other than the bucket-in-the-bottom-of-the-Violano route or the heat stick, does anyone have suggestions? I'm afraid raw humidity added in the winter will rust strings, etc.
Regarding the LOUD Duo-Art, I have a foot powered one that is equipped with a lock for the "loudness" controls. When the thing is played in Duo-Art mode, the levers must be latched in the SOFT position. If not, the stack gets full unregulated vacuum. This probably doesn't relate to the discussed problems, but it took several months before I figured out that little problem. Maybe this note will save someone else the trouble...
[ section on ads removed for another digest ]
-- Ed Gloeggler
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(Message sent Wed 25 Sep 1996, 21:44:14 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
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