To All Interested, Greetings from the Bronx (perhaps at one time, The
Player Piano manufacturing Capital of the U.S.).  In regards to tuning
or de-tuning pianos for that 'Honky-Tonk' sound, has anybody considered
contacting Joanne Castle (of Lawrence Welk Show fame) or any of the
other "Honky Tonk Piano" personalities, to ascertain as to how either
they or their resident tuner(s)/technician(s) accomplished the feat?

I had also heard that when the folks from Audio Fidelity came to record
Paul Eakins' instruments, he was quite annoyed when they set about
detuning a number of his piano based instruments (such as "Madam's
Piano", etc.).  Being as it may, in my opinion, the Audio Fidelity
recordings might be considered probably the benchmark of mechanical
music recordings (just check the technical input at the bottom of the
back of the LP covers).

Hope this input helps,
Sincerely,
Dale F. Rowe
Bronx, New York