Introduction and Question About New Players
By Greg Farmer
Hi All,
First of all, my name is Greg Farmer. I have been an old radio collector for the past 25 years and along the way have picked up a few cylinder and disk music boxes, a Gem Roller Organ, some small paper roll organs, rolmonicas, and even an Ampico grand piano. This past summer, Jim Engel told me about this service and I have been enjoying the articles ever since!
The aspect of collecting old radios, musical items, and other mechanical things that I enjoy most is to take something that has become deteriorated and restore it to as close to like-new condition as possible. I have had to solve such a variety of problems over the years that sometimes I think I can fix almost anything. That's what led me to believe I could restore an Ampico grand piano with no prior player piano restoration experience! I never finished it :( I spent several years working on various aspects of it, but always had questions I couldn't get answered. Luckily, I can play the piano by hand, so I used it alot, but I never got it to play a note by itself. Finally, I had enough and sold it. Now that I found this group, I am wondering if I should have kept it. Anyway, I am thinking about getting another piano and would like some opinions.
Maybe this is of no interest to old piano buffs, but what is the general opinion of some of the new player piano systems such as the Yamaha Diskclavier, the Pianocorder, or others? I understand the appeal of the old roll players, but am also attracted to some of the features of modern systems. I am not interested in pianos with digital sound, just 'real' pianos with a midi interface. These have mechanisms (solenoids) which operate the keys and hammers. I have talked to a local Yamaha dealer and he demonstrated how you can record, playback, and also get recordings from other pianists, all on a computer diskette. It plays with expression and actually operates the piano keys (they move, causing the hammers to strike the strings) and it also operates the pedals. However, salesmen don't explain the drawbacks - what are they?
Anyway, I'm really enjoying this group. I'm hoping it will help me find more rolls for a McTamanny Mechanical Orguinette, help with basic information for restoring small organ bellows, maybe help with a cylinder music box I have that is missing its organ, and maybe even find someone interested in a couple dozen Ampico rolls I don't have a piano for anymore.
Greg Farmer
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(Message sent Sun 29 Sep 1996, 12:24:55 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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