•I ask the help of members of the MMD, to locate the following Ampico roll. The title is "That Certain Feeling" played by Zez Confrey. Ampico number is 207181, issued 4/26. I have looked in all the normal places without luck. If you have a copy of this roll that you are willing to sell, please conta...

•I think most people have come to the conclusion that you do not want to convert an Orchestrelle to play 88-note rolls. I must also agree with that, however, Craig Brougher comes closest to my thoughts. If you must play 88-note rolls then tube into the system and build a separate console to hold the...

•The Viscount RD-70 floppy diskette player device takes the place of a computer and MIDI sequencer program so that piano music, pre-recorded as a MIDI file, can be played at a solenoid piano or a pneumatic piano fitted with magnet valves, such as the Broadmoore PowerRoll. The output is the standard ...

•I am currently looking to sell an original Seeburg Mortuary Organ on eBay, and in the ad I mention that the tracker tubes can be "teed" into a electric-pneumatic device that opens a hole to atmosphere when triggered by the midi-reader. This is similar in concept (exactly the same, actually) to Larr...

•"Fairy Oasis where never is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day." After dealing with the public and employees all day, that sounds good to me. I notice nothing has been said in Mechanical Music Digest in a negative way about Ragtime or PowerRoll. [ We are very concerned ...

•I have delayed this announcement until I had a web site and some feedback from US collectors about my CD-ROM of Ampico erolls. I now have the web site, and the feedback from everyone so far has been most favorable (e.g., see the archives on Spencer Chase's Eroll Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/gro...

•Regarding Jack Conway's inquiry: The email address I gave in my last MMD posting, larrybr@earthlink.net, still works, but as soon as we can do a mailing to announce the change, the Earthlink account will be discontinued and the following address, which is now operational, will remain: larrybr@socal...

•I wonder if anyone has tried to place a reproducing piano, a good quality solenoid piano and a live artist with piano behind a curtain and see which an audience thought was best. It would be even better if the audience consisted of a group of professionals, i.e., pianists, technicians and a knowled...

•Just a couple of comments regarding Steve Bentley's opinion on "making the piano play in another way defeats the object of being a collector." I have to disagree here; in fact, I see having another medium -- e.g., Wayne Stahnke's CD with WindPlay, the Broadmoore PowerRoll, Peter Phillip's system an...

•The story about converting a T-98 "Green" Welte piano to play "Red" Welte rolls upset me terribly. It reminded me of a posting that someone made asking peoples opinion of removing an Ampico mechanism from a Mason and Hamlin grand to install it in a Yamaha grand. (November 2001). Here, with the Welt...

•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 Tom, while I can not offer you the roll itself, this might be another choice. This specific roll is one of the 2225 roll titles that Terry Smythe has scanned up to today and offers generously on his web page, "Player Piano Rebirth", http://members.shaw.ca/smythe/rebirth.htm You find it in the "S...

•[ Spencer Chase wrote in 050208 MMDigest: >> Greetings, Robbie's comment [in 050207 MMDigest, Duo-Art Operating >> Pressure] suggests that I have a problem with heating of the power >> supply or the magnet valves in my E-Roll Player system. The opposite >> is true. I said that it is difficult to de...

•Hi MMD family, Bill Shirley here. Again MMDers have been generous in their response to my request for information for modern-day reproducing of Edison vertical cut disks. I would like to pick up the thread of recently mentioned push-up type 65-note piano players. About 20 years ago I received some ...

•Sub-title: From Paper Rolls to Midi Hello Everybody, I am sure that I do not hit on an unfamiliar subject when I mention the frustrating task of "repairing" paper rolls to playable condition. I have tried almost every method that I have read about, and everybody who has done this knows that most re...

•Hi All, Bruce Clark asked about a solenoid system that would play Ampico rolls from disc. Robbie Rhodes comments: >[ "The first modern solenoid player system to reach significant >[ production was the Marantz Pianocorder; that was almost 20 years >[ ago, and the technology has slowly but surely imp...

•[ Robbie wrote: ] >[ Our readers in Europe are friendly and patient when I write to them >[ in "schoolboy German". It is a pleasure when MMD can help. Adrian >[ is 18 years old and is interested in all about barrel organs! :) >[ -- Robbie Great! We do need the "kiddies" ... The mechanical-music soc...

•Hello, Andy Taylor wrote recently; > Although belt-driven pumps (commonly referred to as 'box pumps') > are somewhat better than turbine pumps against overheating, extended > plays still put an undue strain on the old motor and associated parts. > As Karl Ellison pointed out in MMD, the Ampico play...

•Craig Brougher wrote to me: > By the way, the Ampico B lever overheating can also be caused by an > open resistor across the points. That forces the points and the motor > to also overheat, working too hard and fast without damping. The > resistor doesn't get nearly as hot as the points will if lef...

•Sam, Thanks for the kind words about my workshop in the MMD yesterday. Regarding the rulings about being a member of MBSI to participate in its conventions, this has been discussed before and you may or may not understand or agree with its decisions. Regardless, I hope you will continue to give MBS...