•Sam, You surely are not the first person to do it this way. The most simple was is to take a piano stack and mount an electronic keyboard above it, upside down. There is a fellow in New Jersey who is recording all the Duo-Art rolls this way. The player action would simply push the keys and the keyb...

•I've recently become interested in building my own music box, or something similar. I've asked a few of the local dealers, and they say it would be a big undertaking, and it would probably be cost-prohibitive. I did some searching around the web, but couldn't find anything that really helped. I was...

•In 031105 MMDigest, Christine Robinson alluded to what may be a misconception about converting mechanical music machines to MIDI. It was stated: > But, and this is a big but, I would miss my old piano rolls, the > boxes, their musty smell, and all the history that goes with it. > I would miss the m...

•Hi, I wholeheartedly agree with the opinions against storing a piano in a garage, unless you can convert the garage to a humidity and climate controlled area. Still, don't give up -- there are always a couple more options to storing a piano in a garage that most people don't think of but often work...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- Can someone give me a idea of what the value of a long play cylinder music box with four spring barrels is? I can't see a maker's name anywhere to identify it. It has a cylinder approximately 13 inches long and all the pins are fine. The comb has...

•Duane, I would say that converting a regular reed organ to being a player would be a task that boggles the mind, but there are things that you could do to start from scratch -- or take the simpler route and buy an unrestored Orchestrelle and restore it. Starting with the basics: would you want it t...

•[ Darryl Zempel asked, "What is the correct sequence of events [ to play a roll on an Ampico A grand?" I feel well qualified to answer that question as I repeat that process several times per week. [ Play/Reroll switch should be in "Reroll" position. ] 1. Insert roll and attach roll leader to take ...

•I recently tuned my Weber Unika for a visiting group from MBSI. My tuner was moving his piano shop into a new building and couldn't spare the time to come do it. I normally do all my repairs and re-stringing, etc., and bring the pianos up to pitch. But then after I tune them, I call in the pro and ...

•Thank you, Eli Shahar, and the others who have sent emails about my restoration guide to the Ampico A, at http://antiquemechanicalrestorations.com/Ampico_A.html This week I shared some information with a hobbyist who was adjusting his pump so I thought I'd send the information along to MMD. Here's ...

•Thank you to those who responded to my request for help with my Ampico action cutout problem [181102 MMDigest]. I have worked my way through all of the suggestions with no success. Everything else in the drawer is working correctly and I have traced all the lines, looking for leaks. Using my suck t...

•Who has experience with first generation push-up Pianolas? I have a very early Aeolian Pianola 58/65-note push-up player, probably made between 1898 and 1902 at the latest. It was completely restored, and the 65 pneumatics have been recently gone over again. The main bellows and reservoir are intac...

• [ Editor's Note: [ [ The following message was sent in without comment, but I'm [ assuming from the subject line and the context that its a [ research paper Damon wrote for a class in school. [ [ Jody Pneumatically Run Self-Playing Instruments During a seemingly simpler time, there was a great amo...

•Scott Currier (love his email address!) is right insofar as mentioning the cavernous unused space in most parlor reed organs. Sadly, the standard reed organ action would not be easy to outfit with solenoids or pneumatics. The keys press down directly on short "stickers" located under the keys at a ...

•Hi all, I hope the following will answer some of your questions. From my book ... - - - The Design This project was inspired by all the ones that dogged me over the years. You know the ones I mean ... Weld the ____ bore out the ___ secure a ____ from an old farm tractor. I wanted to build and docum...

•Here is that write-up An Thomas Tran promised me about his work building an 18 note music box with a custom tune. I'm afraid he overstates my own participation (I mainly just cheered him on - but I did suggest the clay idea, he added modestly). It is a good write up of an idea that really worked. T...

•Hello fellow MMD readers, This is how a well-restored 88-note, upright, footpump player piano can play a Welte roll. I thought it was good, so I'm sharing it. http://www.monmouth.com/~gabedellafave/Welte_1.ram The instrument is a 1925 Lexington (Hallet, Davis & Co. built) Super-Simplex full upright...

•It is very hard to believe why a person would want a player action to be removed; maybe by doing that it would enhance the tone and volume as there would be less interference in the sound board area. More than likely it is this. On the other hand these same persons are not 100% musically appreciati...

•> I was astounded to hear that although the strings were fine, the > restoration to make it play again was over $2000. Restoration > of the cabinet was $1,100 extra and electrifying another $600. Boy, the questions aren't easy today! What is the cost to restore a player piano? Is it worth it? You c...

•[ I mis-titled the article by Bruce Clark as "Ampico "A" Note Cut-out [ Block" whereas he was speaking of the set of small valves which [ disable the expression controls. Similar valve blocks are often [ installed in other expression pianos to disable or cut out playing [ notes. Virtually all music...

•As an owner of a Seeburg "A" nickelodeon, I have installed inside my piano colorful orange and yellow lights. I can see no direct benefit from keeping the lights on "all the time". I have the lights turned off until I turn on the switch to play a tune. Even with very low-watt bulbs (15 watts), I wo...