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MMD > Archives > July 2001 > 2001.07.08 > 10Prev  Next


Surviving Player Pianos & Pedal Duo-Art in UK
By Dan Wilson, London

Gabe Della Fave concluded [010707 MMDigest]:

> So, 1 in 25 pianos is a player piano.  1 in 125 pianos is a
> working player piano.  1 in 1400 pianos is a working expression piano.

Autoplayer was a player piano sales and repairs shop which operated
during the 1970s in Slough, about 30 miles west of London, only a few
miles from the former major Aeolian player factory site (1908-1932) at
Hayes.  I was once chatting to its proprietor, Paul Young, and he said
that there were noticeably more Aeolian players in the Thames Valley
than anywhere else in the country.  He said:

 "We get five pedal-only Duo-Art uprights offered to us by phone,
  by people in the Thames Valley, every week -- that's 250 a year!
  How many Duo-Art owners ever get to hear of us?  One in five?
  How many of those bother to phone us in a year?  One in 4?
  Conservatively, that has to mean there are 5,000 pedal-only
  Duo-Arts in this part of the country alone!"

This seems quite possible since British (or German masquerading as
British) Aeolian-made pianos are still regarded in the trade as solid
instruments worth repairing, and so fewer of them get destroyed than
other middle-of-the-road pianos.

Dan Wilson


(Message sent Sun 8 Jul 2001, 23:00:00 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.)

Key Words in Subject:  Duo-Art, Pedal, Pianos, Player, Surviving, UK

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