Hello Fellow Preservationists,  As a collector and student of automatic
musical instruments I try to consider the future collector, restorer,
and enthusiast in my attitudes and actions towards the machines and
music that have been entrusted to me.  Phonographs records and music
box discs have shown surprising stability and can often be enjoyed just
as they were intended at the time of their creation.

But even the most amazing orchestrion is just a silent piece of
furniture without the software to bring out its greatest capability
(and of course a good restorer).  My roll collection is aging and with
it my ability to enjoy some of the great music locked in a decaying
medium.

With that in mind, I have recently allowed Bob Pinsker to come over
and begin scanning rare ragtime, blues and other rolls of interest.
These are rolls that in many cases were given or bequeathed to me by
collectors who had been mentors to me in my own youth.  They entrusted
me with their favorite rolls -- Fats Waller, James P. Johnson and
Jelly Roll Morton originals for example  --- not just because they knew
I would enjoy them, but also because I agreed to preserve them as best
I could.  Now with scanning technology I can make good on my promise
not only to them but to interested folks in the future.

I don't know whether or not a lot of people 100 years from now will
care about a complete run of Roy Bargy rolls on the Imperial label,
but if they do at least they'll be able to hear them.  And if someone
can make enough money in the recut market to merit having them punched,
more power to them.  And in regards to copyright, if you can make
enough money on recut rolls or MIDI files or whatever then you should
pay the piper.  I've been an ASCAP member and I believe fair's fair.
But even a "big seller" in the collector market would barely be a blip
on the radar screen of most publishers.

I hope to have as many original rolls in my collection scanned as
there is interest in them.  I have enjoyed others efforts and hope
to repay my debt to them by opening up my collection to students and
enthusiasts.  And when recently faced with the choice of whether to
buy a Steinway Duo-Art upright or a Yamaha Disklavier upright, I chose
the Disklavier -- not out of any lack of passion for that Steinway,
but in great measure because of the ability to enjoy duo-art, Ampico,
Welte and 88 note scans in addition to the great new MIDI arrangements
of John Farrell plus the wonderful music in the Disklavier library.
It's kind of like having five pianos in one!

And I'm really looking forward to hearing Roy Bargy on that Seeburg G
and Hupfield Helios I plan to own one day -- only having scanned the
rolls today will allow me that opportunity.

Best regards from Los Angeles,
Marc J. Sachnoff