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MMD > Archives > August 1998 > 1998.08.02 > 03Prev  Next


H. C. Bay Piano
By John A. Tuttle

Hi Gerry and fellow MMDer's

H.C. Bay is very well known in the player piano world. Although
the company was in business for a short number of years (1914-1929),
the factory at Bluffton, Indiana produced the Bay, Drachman,
Meldorf, Vollmer and Bellman, Solo-Concerto. (this according to
the Pierce Piano Atlas, 9th Edition)

In the Player Piano Co. catalog, the H.C. Bay player action is
listed as #4 and this technician has worked on lots of H.C. Bay-
type actions. H.C. Bay actions were nothing to write home about.
They were relatively cheaply made and used in relatively inexpensive
pianos.

The true ear-mark of the H.C. Bay action is the valve. Made of a
black-molded material, similar in composition to the old piano
roll spool ends, there is "no other player action (that) used a
valve exactly like this, (and) this is all that is needed for
identification.*" H.C. Bay also used the 'fish-pole' type tracking
mechanism, if they used one at all.

*Excerpts from the Player Piano Co. catalog,pg. 130, copyright 1983

Musically,

John A. Tuttle (john@player-care.com)
Web Domain at: www.player-care.com
Brick, NJ 08724 (732) 840-8787
=====================================


Key Words in Subject:  Bay, C, H, Piano

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