There were several posts earlier this year about the Larry Givens
Ampico rolls, but no mention was made of his MelODee 88-note rolls
issued in the 1960s.  Can anyone help me identify the source material
used for those rolls?

Longtime piano roll collectors will remember that most privately recut
88-note rolls in the 1960s and 1970s failed to note the source roll or
pianist.  This was reportedly due to fear of lawsuits from QRS.

Richard Riley helped provide the missing information for many of these
roll labels in 1988 with his "Hot Recut Piano Rollography".  However,
that list did not include the 88-note MelODee rolls issued by Larry
Givens and John Gourley (Givens-Gourley, Inc.).

The lack of source information for MelODee rolls may be important only
to a completist like me who wants to know as much as possible about the
music in his collection.  Nevertheless, knowing the source for MelODee
rolls is important because they are high quality and likely the only
private company at the time that included words on recut rolls.

Some of the MelODee arrangements are easily recognized as familiar
rolls issued by QRS and other early roll companies.  Other MelODee
rolls may be original performances: the Q. David Bowers books, "A
Guidebook of Automatic Musical Instruments" (1967) and "Encyclopedia
of Automatic Musical Instruments" (1972), contain an illustrated
description of how Givens-Gourley made piano rolls.  It mentions a
high-speed direct-recording perforator that cut a piano roll directly
from a keyboard.

Of the 300 or so regular 88-note rolls issued by MelODee, I purchased
109 of them at the time.  Through the years, I have identified the
source for 74 of these rolls by securing the original roll and
comparing it to the MelODee roll. That leaves 35 rolls that are still
unknown.  (I also have eight of the more than 50 MelODee Medleys,
which appear to be mainly composites of original rolls.)

If anyone has information about the specific sources for individual
MelODee rolls, I will be happy to trade the information I have.
Perhaps we can prepare an on-line database that could serve as a
reference for everyone.

Gary Watkins
Sun Valley, California