To all those people that took a stand against converting 65 note players
to 88, I would say that I wholeheartedly agree with there position.
There are enough 65 note rolls on the market to remove the primary
reasons why people did this. Besides, the originality of those pianos
should be conserved if at all possible.

When I converted a 65 to an 88, I was " young and foolish" and was
insensitive to its the historical value. Remember, you could pick up
a "pumper" almost anywhere for free as long as you hauled it out of
their basement where kids had been playing with it and Dad needed the
room for a bar or pool table. That's the way I got mine. With six
friends we dragged it upstairs and loaded it on a truck. The lady of
the house was only concerned that we did not scratch "her" walls while
dad was mowing the backyard. Get the picture ?!

Converting it came became a necessity, in my mind anyway, when I went
to a music store, bought a QRS roll for about two bucks and discovered
that it would not play. Back to the place where I bought the pumper.
No, they had no rolls left, threw them all away and besides that, the
kids had pretty much ruined them anyway. Then back to the store to buy
a 65 note roll. Well at least they brought me up to date. After making
a call to QRS the mystery was now completely solved, in my mind anyway,
and they suggested to convert the piano to their 88 note format. So,
who am I to disagree, I always follow directions, right ? (How come my
wife is snickering). I found out shortly after that why the salesman
had a smirky smile on his face. But, I buckled down, as they say, and
learned how to do just that although it was the hard way.

That piano is long gone although I enjoyed it for many years and my
love for and knowledge of automatic musical instruments has steadily
increased and I am learning every day from many people including the
ones that post their comments on this board. Now I must go back to
"overhauling" my recently acquired 1912 Heinzman (88 note) player, but
I do not waiver an inch from the original configuration if at all
possible. Boy, I am REALLY having a ball with it !!!

Albert de Boer