•Hi All, I'm not an historian by any stretch so please keep that in mind as you read this mildly sarcastic letter. I really do get a kick out of seeing player pianos in western movies, considering they weren't even invented yet. I'd also go as far as to say the Dangerous Dan and his friends were lis...

•Robbie wrote: > [ Ed, I've heard that, "In 1923 more pianos were sold in the USA > [ than babies were born, and 90% of them were player pianos." > [ Have you ever seen confirmation of this impressive statistic? In case Ed doesn't have the numbers, we can try a little mind experiment in an attempt t...

•Andy Taylor wrote: > But consider this: what made a certain brand more powerful than the > other? The soundboard for the most part! If you are doing all that > work anyway, why not raise the quality and the power if you can? It is not my job to pass judgment on various piano makes. It is my job to ...

•I keep finding good books at the local library -- as is always the case! This time, I discovered "A Pianist's Landscape" by Carol Montparker (Amadeus Press, 1998). This book is filled with essays, memories, and anecdotes about pianos. A sample of the chapter titles include: Nature and Music Pianos ...

•Greetings: May I offer my humble opinion regarding "modernizing" a pedal board on an 1850 tracker: *Please don't!* Although the builder of this instrument is not given, we must assume that an instrument of this age must have historical value. Having served in churches for nearly 40 years I have adj...

•Out here in the Pacific Northwest sticky center pins in a variety of actions are common. I think that most technicians would agree that replacement of the flange, butt and pins is the proper thing to do on a Steinway. However; if you can find someone willing to sell you "Perc" [perchloride] (I get ...

•After wondering the same thing myself for sometime, having read several books that dealt in part with this issue, and thinking it over myself; I've come to my own personal conclusions: * 3,000,000 player pianos were built between 1907 and 2001. * 125,000 of these were expression pianos. * 400,000 p...

•You failed to mention the year and make of your Ampico. Every year that Ampicos were manufactured, Ampico made a few changes including removal or a slight difference in design of parts. My own Ampico has no expression cutoff block and no primary valves. I am not sure what you mean by "crash pneumat...

•Bill, I want to thank you for your nice response in 030607 MMDigest on electronic versus aural tuning. I have been using a Verituner for six months now and I find it is a very capable tool. Since retiring from an engineering career, I have been helping out at the Emil Fries' Piano Hospital and Tech...

•If you ever visited Vern Schafer's chain of stores, you'd have no doubt as to what kind of products he sold. I went to his original, largest store in the mid 1970's in Colton, California, looking for an affordable piano for myself, and all he had to show me were pianos of the same caliber that we s...

•About the latest Duo-Art I know of is a 1936 Weber. It's one of the fan systems that Aeolian produced as early as 1927. Mostly these fan systems seem to have been intended for use with the Concertolas, but they do also appear in some really fine pianos. There were a number of Steinways built in the...

•I don't have extensive experience with UK-built pianos, but from what I've seen the action specifications on uprights like yours are similar to those of the USA. In which case, a 1-inch hammer strike distance is way too close under any circumstances I can think of. Was that "1 inch" a typo? 1 and 7...

•Dave Krall wrote recently about seeking an upright piano in very good condition. My advice would be to look around thoroughly for someone who wants to part with an old upright piano and then have it evaluated for its condition. It could keep another piano from ending up in the dump. At the same tim...

•My father, Mel Sutter, had a passion for player pianos. He was a master player technician with over 60 years of experience. He is gravely ill and will very soon not be with us. We are tasked with dealing with the bounty of his life's work. He has about 65 pianos of every brand and type: warehouses ...

-- [ From: James J. Cullen, Ph.D. * EMC.Ver #2.10P ] -- Hi There! You have a new member in the group -- me! My name is Jim Cullen. My wife Carolyn and I live in Las Vegas, NV. By profession, I'm a retired geology professor and chemical engineer. Now, I trade stocks for a living. My hobbies include e...

Greetings fellow mechanical music enthusiasts! As I probably hold the record for 'lurking' on this list I feel I should finally post an introduction. This digest comes to me at work by the tolerance of my employers. I did start a post before but never got it finished so here goes! My name is Peter W...

I recently purchased a unique Vorsetzer that plays Duo-Art, Welte (Red label _and_ Welte Licensee), and Ampico rolls. As a result, I am now offering my Duo-Art Vorsetzer for sale. I use it all the time as a push-up to my Yamaha Disklavier grand piano, and transfer Duo-Art and 88-note rolls to Diskla...

•I just noticed that we haven't been getting to mechanical music on TV, so let's!! I was watching a show that is many years off the air now, it was called "Doogie Howser MD" Anyways, there was this episode where a character (Vinny) borrowed the main character's (Doogie) father's car. He was driving ...

•I read Andy T's article on tuners removing player actions. "Remove that player action and throw it in the trash" This was a familiar phrase used by music store dealers and a lot of tuners. Especially tuners and music store dealers who catered to the pseudo-elite. (We will get to that later) Andy, I...

•Hello to All, The AMICA 97 Convention drew to a splendid close this Sunday past for another year and a great time was available to all. MBSI'ers are in for a treat in August - and pack your favorite insect repellent. Along with the memories, 26 W&W Angelus 58n Symphony rolls accompanied me back to ...