Larry,

Your list of roll sources is very impressive.  I think I can help you
with a few details, and if you're willing to go one step further with
it I could help you with a 1-liner for each saying what their specialty
is.  For instance, Don Rand specializes in A and G nickelodeon rolls,
and is currently making an impressive subscription list recutting of
Link RX rolls.  And who knows what he'll do next...

I am familiar with the Piano Roll Center people past & present and can
tell you the following: Mike Schwimmer sold his business to Paul
Johnson.  Paul moved from Folsom to Washington, and had to move to a
second address in Washington.  The correct address is Suquamish, and
you can delete any reference to either of the previous addresses.  Mike
is doing business under the name The Collector's Center (I think) and
is now more interested in cigar paraphernalia (I hope that doesn't
sound strange or judgemental on my part, because Mike is a close friend
and one of my favorite people in the world; he has always loved cigars
and is as much of an expert there as he is in piano rolls!).  Mike
retained the right to do more recuts in the future, but my take on it
is that he is not likely to do so.  Whatever he does, it will be a
first-class job!

I'll pass on the PlayRite/Playtime issue, we have smart people on this
list who will figure it out.  My hunch is that Playtime is simply a
reseller of rolls, apparently made by PlayRite.  I would be very
surprised if there were any more to it than that, ie. anyone selling
out to anyone else.

Rag Daddy's Music is an auction list only, isn't it?

Upright & Grand  is Eric Bernhoft's label for new 88-note, Ampico, and
Duo-Art rolls.  Eric is an excellent arranger (mostly of rags,
including an original that debuted at the St. Louis AMICA convention as
reported by Terry Smythe).  Eric has also made some neat new rolls of
live performances by Peter Minton.  He deserves an entire article just
on him so I'll leave it at that for now.

Ed Sprankle is another close friend.  His business name is Echoes
(EchoeS as it appears in the logo; the name refers to his initials, and
to the reflecting-back nature of recutting old rolls).  Ed's main
interest is great blues on A rolls, but he also collects 88-note and
Wurlitzer APP rolls.  He has an outstanding collection and used to
recut 88-n rolls on his Echoes label (but only does so privately now).
Just yesterday I received a post from Ed advertising 3 outstanding new
blues A rolls (1 Automatic: all Jelly Roll Morton/JLC arrangements; 1
Columbia, and 1 Capitol: mostly Jimmy Blythe & Clarence Johnson
performances-hot stuff!  Whew!!!).  If ANYONE is interested in this
great music, I would strongly suggest calling Ed NOW (I really mean
NOW!!!!) to reserve a copy ($33 ea.  post-paid).  These will be gone
quickly.  Ed has exquisite taste at selecting rolls to recut.  These A
rolls were made by PlayRite, so they have the "big holes" if that
matters to you.

Pedals, Pumpers & Rolls is west of Chicago.  Sadly, Carol passed away
last year so "Roger Dayton" is more correct for your list.

Artists' Choice Music Rolls are of course the work of our friend Robin
Pratt.  He focuses on Ampico pop rolls, and has recently been working
on a list of Welte rolls and some themodist and Apollo-X expression
rolls.  Robin has done a good 50 or so rolls already, and will probably
issue another 50 or so later this year.  Then he'll rejoin the AMI list
and everybody will be happy again.     ;-)

Well, that's a start, and I imagine others can also elaborate.  Thanks
for sharing your list and inspiring me to get off my duff and
contribute something to the AMI list!  I hope you find this discourse
useful.  I would call you 'cause I'd like to chat, but I'm swamped at
moment ("fishing" around for that Beau Dahnker piano, perhaps?)!

And remember, call Sprankle immediately if you have any hope of picking
up 1 or 2 or 3 outstanding, RARE blues A rolls.

Cheers,
Rob DeLand
(deland_robert@macmail1.csg.mot.com)