Terry Macham wrote in Digest 970113:

> I ran across a Weber (Canadian) player piano the other day.  There
> is a lever located to the right of the tracker bar labeled "Solodant."
> What is the function of this control?

"Solodant" means the same as "Themodist" -- it's the system that employs
the little snakebite perforations on the edges of "Solo", "Accentuated" or
"Metrostyle-Themodist" rolls.  Usually (but there are always exceptions)
Solodant cut the playing down to a fixed power level and Themodist cut it
down to the degree you're holding the treble and bass slide levers over;
and the "snakebites" undo the subduing for those notes starting at the
same instant. Result, "snakebitten" notes stand out above the others.
A useful add-on, in my view -- nearly all UK players use this system in
one form or another.

What intrigues me is that a Weber piano should have this label, because
"Solodant" was the system used by the rivals to Aeolian Co. who owned the
Weber marque.  Was this a piano converted to a player by someone else ?
Does the motor have five or six bellows, Terry ?  What other controls and
labels are there ?

There was a long and badly-written account by me of Solodant in
MMD 96.09.11, subject: "More Foot Pumping".

Dan Wilson

 [ That subject of that article is perennial, Dan.  Could you re-write it
 [ sometime for publication again in the Digest?  -- Robbie