I may not be called the enthusiastic peddler but still put in 2-4
hours every week pumping. Sunday at about 4:00PM you can find me with
a glass of wine in my hand pumping out music.
I have a Lester Player piano up in the woods in Christopher Creek (East
of Payson Az.) with about 100 rolls that I leave at the cabin. The
pump has 2 storage reservoirs which sometimes makes is difficult to
control the added expression by pumping with brisk foot strokes. The
extra vacuum gets taken up by the reservoirs. It still is lots of
fun.
My father found an Aeolian upright Duo-Art in California for $300
dollars about 3 years ago. The person didn't know what he had. It is
what I would call a Half Duo-Arts that only have the Accompaniment
Accordion side of the regulator. The player had never been touched by
anyone for about 60 years and the piano wouldn't even play. The
Accordion blocks laid untouched in a pile being held in place by only
the hard hoses because the leather being rotted decades ago.
I have rebuilt this player and use it the most. It does need new
strings, tuning pins, Refinishing, and some valve work since I didn't
open up the stack when I replaced the key pneumatics. What is nice
about this player is that the person pumping still has the job of
supplying the added expression for the SOLO (Theme) loudness when
playing Duo-Art rolls. If you like adding your own expression on
standard 88-rolls, you would love pumping one of these players with a
Duo-Art roll. You learn to read the Theme holes on the right side of
the roll.
I know that moving pianos is hard on them but I love taking it out to
the desert on new years eve, or to a party in the park or house and
introduce people to a reproducing piano. I have pumped this piano for
6 hours straight and have said to my self, I need to do some work on
these valves. It must not bother me to much since the value leathers
haven't been touched yet.
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