Hardman Duo
By Bryan Cather
I have a few questions about the player piano I purchased recently. It is about thirty years old, according to the fellow I purchased it from. It is a Hardman, made by Hardman, Peck & Co. It was refinished prior to being put up for sale
If I am correct, the first new player marketed in the US after WW II was the "Hardman Duo" which came along in the mid-1950's. I have seen a few of these, and wonder if there are any distinguishing features of the "Duo" that do not appear on later Hardman players.
The piano has no fallboard, but the decal above the keys reads "Hardman". There is also a large decal in the spoolbox which reads: "Master Play", and a smaller one which reads "Patent Pending" The spoolbox is made of wood (not metal, like the later Aeolian players), and the only control there is the switch for the suction box, which is an obvious addition to the original instrument. Also, unlike the newer Aeolian players, the wind motor is on the right side of the spoolbox, and the slider valves are almost horizontal. A further difference from the newer players is that the tracker bar is NOT adjustable. On the keyslip behind the tempo lever is an arcing tempo scale. Otherwise, the keyslip controls are consistent with the later Aeolian. The final difference I see between this piano and the newer Aeolian players is the presence of a key lock, which I don't recall seeing on the newer ones.
All my comments so far are based on the assumption that this piano was an Aeolian product. Am I correct in this?
I'm somewhat concerned about positively dating this piano. I am familiar with the Pierce Piano Atlas, but, where there SHOULD be a serial number on this instrument is only some indecipherable pencil markings. There is a space in the plate where I expected to find the serial number, but there are only the pencil marks. Has anyone run into this previously? Any suggestions?
All this is leading to the following question: Do I indeed have a "Hardman Duo"? Since the piano was refinished, I'm pretty certain the current "fallboard" decal (for lack of a better term) is not original. Was there a special decal for the "Hardman Duo", or any other markings identifying these instruments? The reason for all of this is that a good number of the rolls that came with the piano are stamped with an ad for the Hardman Duo.
Finally, I seem to recall an article in the AMICA bulletin awhile back where either Cook or Kortlander stated in an interview or letter or whatever that QRS built a one-off studio sized player to take to trade shows in the late 1940's or early 1950's. This piano caused such a stir that Aeolian began producing player a few years later, which were somewhat similar. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if this one-off studio player still exists? It would be interesting to compare it to mine.
Any advice or help is appreciated.
Bryan Cather
BSnakeC@AOL.com |
(Message sent Mon 9 Dec 1996, 03:03:03 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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