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Unknown Player Action in Stuyvesant Piano
By Jeffrey Wood

Hi John,  To me, Stuyvesant has always been a name associated with
the Aeolian Company.  I don't know when they first used that name.
As a brand of piano, the name could have originated with them, or be
the name of a company they acquired.

The pinstriping on the plate suggests a very early player.  The part
of the plate bearing the name may be separate from the rest of the
plate.  This could have originally had a 65-note-only player action.
If so, the wippens outside of the 65-note range may be newer-looking
or somehow different from the rest, to accommodate an 88-note stack.

The present spoolbox and windmotor are identical to those of a Ludwig
instrument I once owned, although the bottom action is very different.
I don't know who made the Ludwig; there is no name cast into any part
of the plate, just a decal.  The automatic tracking is weird -- it is
driven by a revolving left-hand roll chuck, which terminates in a rubber
button that engages with the left flange of the roll being played.

As a whole, this piano seems to be a hodgepodge of ill-fitting mismatched
parts which may never have worked right.

Happy Birthday,
Jeff Wood


(Message sent Thu 19 Aug 2010, 07:40:31 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Action, Piano, Player, Stuyvesant, Unknown

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