I appreciate that Craig is focusing this discussion on the original
Welte recording piano, but perhaps there are a few among us who recall
that Bill Flynt built a recording piano back in about the early
70's.    There's a picture of it being used by Ruth Bingaman Smith in
the October 1973 issue of the AMICA Bulletin, story about the 1973
AMICA Convention in Fort Worth.

In the November '73 issue, Bill's recording piano and companion
perforator were described in an article by Robert Kirshner.  It seems
that Bill's performances of Warsaw Concerto, Jungle Echos and That's
All, were all originally recorded on this piano, a modest gutted
Marshall & Wendell grand, fitted with an Art Echo system modified to
play Ampico rolls.

I never saw that piano and perforator before they were destroyed in a
fire sometime in the late-70's.   Perhaps some members of the Texas
Chapter of AMICA might recall that piano, and how it did its thing, and
possibly comment of the process as it was known at the time.

Regards,

Terry

•Terry Smythe                       (204) 832-3982 (voice/fax)
55 Rowand Avenue                   smythe@mts.net
Winnipeg, MB, Canada  R3J 2N6      smythe@freenet.mb.ca
Home Page:   http://www.mts.net/~smythe