Just another thought for those wanting a piano to play nickelodeon
rolls on their player piano.  I have not made any comments regarding
the modern day kits as I have only seen two of them at auctions.  They
really were not up to par.  I feel (its just an opinion folks) that a
person would be much better off to start with an old player piano than
one of those plastic kits.

We have seen the pains of trying to restore a 1960's vintage Aeolian
and worst would be restoring a Kimball or Kohler and Campbell from
that same era.  If you do not want to make a spool frame then respool
the large nickelodeon rolls onto smaller cores like those of a 88 note
player roll.  You could have two five tune rolls instead of a ten tune
roll while retaining your original spool frame.  With a little
engineering you could play 88 note rolls also.

Wulitzer nickelodeons used a five tune spool frame in their early
pianos before changing to the ten tune format.  Standard nickelodeons
used a smaller core on their nickelodeons.  If you still want to use
the larger rolls then think about building a wooden roll frame like
Nelson-Wiggin used.  Their keyboard models used a wind motor with a
large wooden spool frame.  Somewhere I have the gear sizes if someone
needs those.

There are a ton of options for the guy who wants to hear nickelodeon
music.  Believe it or not a good many collectors that have large
collections still say nothing beats a good "A" roll piano which may
be the reason Seeburg "E" pianos are still popular.  I would be
interested in knowing how many people are thinking about wanting a
nickelodeon or if anyone wants to know more about these music makers.

Don Teach

Shreveport Music Co
1610 E. Bert Kouns
Shreveport,  LA  71105

dat-smc@juno.com

318 798 6000 Voice
318 797 4572  FAX