[ Art Reblitz has been a lurking subscriber for quite a while, and
 [ I'm happy that he's now come forward to share his knowledge and
 [ seek help with his research.  His official introduction will
 [ appear in MMD tomorrow.  He wrote to Jody:
 [
 [> Hi Jody,  When Don Teach stopped in last month and put me on
 [> the MMD, I requested anonymity because I already have a hard
 [> time answering the mail and phone calls that come in.  However,
 [> when it comes to discussing my favorite subject -- the history
 [> of the Chicago coin piano companies -- I guess I just can't
 [> keep my hands off !


For many years, I've been doing extensive research on coin pianos and
orchestrions made in the Chicago area, including Seeburg, Marquette
(Cremona), Nelson-Wiggen, Operators (Coinola) and Western Electric.
After some other writing projects are completed, I'll be writing a
major work on these companies and their products.

To date, I've collected the serial numbers of over 500 Seeburg and
Western Electric instruments.  My records show that Seeburg made the
change from the earlier 2-door style L coin piano to the later 4-door
model in 1923, somewhere between #156,931 and #157,017.

Dating Seeburgs is complicated by several factors.  Before 1921,
Seeburg used pianos made by Haddorff, Seybold and Gram, each with the
piano manufacturer's serial number.  After 1921, Seeburg built their
own pianos and apparently began numbering them with 50,000.  In the
Pierce (formerly Michael's) Piano Atlas, the numbers for Seybold are
incorrect, and those for Edmund Gram are too vague to be reliable.
Numbers for Seeburg and Marshall & Marshall are just plain wrong.

To keep distributors from undercutting each other's prices, Seeburg
enforced a strict policy of exclusive dealership territories.  If a
piano sold to a Florida distributor showed up in Milwaukee, for
example, the Florida dealer ran the risk of losing his dealership.
Because 1913 Haddorff pianos were numbered in the low 50,000s, it
became too confusing for Seeburg to keep track of their new pianos,
also numbered in the 50,000s.  In mid-1922, they added a "1" in front
of the number, changing the 55,000 series to the new 155,000 series.
This happened somewhere between 55,020 and 155,386.

For the record, early in my research, when I had collected information
for between 50 and 100 Seeburgs, I was convinced that I knew something
about their production.  After I had 200 numbers, it was obvious that
my first conclusions were wrong.  When I had between 400-500 numbers,
the real patterns began to emerge.  The moral to this story?  When you
research something, don't jump to premature conclusions based on two or
three pianos that you've seen.  When we examine six or eight large
Hupfeld orchestrions, we're amazed by the apparent "fact" that Hupfeld
made so many changes "with each new instrument." In reality, this could
be compared to inspecting one example of a certain brand of automobile
made in 1910, one made in 1916, another made in 1922 and another in
1928, and deciding that they never made two alike.

My forthcoming book on these companies is strictly a hobby, with no
profit motive.  I'm doing it to preserve information that I think is
interesting, so it will be there in case someone else finds it
interesting in the future.  If anyone would like to help with this
project, I need the following information:

For Seeburg pianos:

  The piano serial number.
  Whether the serial number is rubber-stamped or die-stamped.
  The piano stack number (on the front or top of the stack).
  The pipe chest number (on the top or front of the pipe chest).
  The number on the paper sticker on the coin switch box.
  The date rubber-stamped on the bottom of the piano hammers
     (usually in the midrange, under the hammer tails).

Other serial numbers needed:

  Western Electric (these share the late Seeburg numbers).
  Nelson-Wiggen
  Cremona (also check the inside of the left side of the cabinet
     for a date written in pencil).
  Link (made by Haddorff.  The Link number is in the usual place on the
     plate; the Haddorff number is sometimes stamped into the cabinet,
     on the back or on a door frame).
  Coinola
  Peerless

My e-mail address is <seeburg@juno.com>.  In return for your help
with this project, I'm willing to supply specific information for your
Seeburg, such as its age, manufacturer, etc.  Regretfully, I'm too
busy meeting restoration and writing deadlines to engage in lengthy
correspondence or to provide restoration information, and I'm not
available by telephone.

My current writing project is a major book, "The Golden Age of
Automatic Musical Instruments," which will include 250+ professional
color photos of all types of instruments, including many interior
shots never before published.  Hopefully, it will be in print sometime
this year.  My future writing projects include revised editions of the
Violano restoration book and "Treasures of Mechanical Music," as well
as the Chicago coin piano project described above, but I have no idea
when they'll be done.

Art Reblitz