Geoff Ward wrote of Spencer Chase (in MMD 25.06.25), "He also
designed and sold his own solenoid player system for pianos."

Somewhere around the year 2005 (I can't remember exactly) Spencer
and I met, and I was very intrigued with his E-roll player system.
I expressed an interest in purchasing one, but he was right in the
middle of perfecting it. If I remember correctly, he was working on
his second or third iteration (again, I don't remember the exact
details), so no completed kits were available at the time.

I also could not have afforded one at the time a tentative price
quote was given. However, being very generous, he offered his
prototype to me at a price I could afford.

Yes, it needed some tinkering to get it to work, but with the
purchase of a MIDI control board, some ribbon cables, a computer,
a power supply and other hardware, I got it installed and working
quite nicely on my Stroud Duo-Art baby grand only a few months
after purchasing the equipment.

This system was quite crude compared to the final version, but
it did work to my satisfaction for years. I enjoyed many hours of
listening to music (I also purchased 2,500 files of Duo-Art music)
that I didn't have the physical rolls of in my collection.

I am so thankful for Spencer's contribution to this hobby, and to
the length which it has advanced by his efforts. He truly will be
missed. I hope others will "take the torch" and carry it further
down the road, so Spencer's efforts will not get lost to history.

Rich Ingram
Hesperia, California