•Shaw most certainly had a Pianola -- indeed, according to Rex Lawson he had two! As with so many of the intelligentsia in London in the early years of the 20th Century, he was thoroughly involved with the instrument. Although nowadays thought of as a playwright he earned his living for many years a...

•Hello, I am looking for anyone who can give me some information, pictures, measurements or even sell me parts for my A. B. Chase player piano. My wife picked up this piano last year and it plays great. Along with the piano we got a player action, which was a separate delivery, which goes under the ...

•Dear Craig, If my memory serves me correct, several years ago (maybe 20+), either Dr. Jan-Jaap Haspels or Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume gave a talk about them at what I believe was an MBSI Annual Convention. It was accompanied by a film showing the alleged operations of the 'Nef' Ship Automaton. I mention...

•Regarding the following problem, I have two suggestions. > It always plays normally when I play (via pedaling) a single roll, > but when I play a large three-piece roll (for example a QRS XP > roll), it comes to a complete stop for some reason, usually in > the middle of the third and final movemen...

•Hi All, Just want to let Christopher Vermillion and others know that the old music rolls are preferred by 95% of my customers. Having been a QRS music rolls dealer for almost twenty-five years, and having sold thousands and thousands of unembellished rolls, I can say with complete confidence and co...

•Hi All, Here's some sage advice to every technician and tuner who tunes and services player pianos. *Always*, and I mean always, have the customer operate the player mechanism _before_ you start working. If the customer says, "It doesn't work," then you're off the hook. If the player does work, the...

•Hi All, While the response to my latest survey about the availability of parts for player pianos has been rather scant, it might have opened another door that deserves attention. It's a fact that some people are taking it upon themselves to manufacture new parts for player pianos, and they are eith...

•Hi All, Craig Brougher has written two more excellent articles about the Ampico 'B' reproducing player system. The primary article is named, "The Ampico Model B- an Important New Development in 1929". The second companion article is titled, "Improving the Ampico Model B Tracking System". As you may...

•Hi All, Here's my 'Johnny Come Lately' contribution -- pun intended... The posts I've read on this topic typically deal with performance capabilities and limitations. What's missing? The player piano was the first karaoke [sing-along] machine. Why this isn't even mentioned at Wikipedia amazes me. I...

Laurent Coray wrote: > Hi John, > > I often see your writing in the MMD, and I enjoy your web pages. > We at Octet Design, are considering going in the solenoid-piano MIDI- > upgrade business, competing with Gulbransen and QRS Pianomation. > So I'm looking for people who know about those systems. > ...

•Hi All, My quest to figure out exactly how the Piano-Lodeon works continues. I finished a graphic that accurately shows the placement of the two 'vanes' in the plenum. It's located at http://www.player-care.com/pianolodeon/inside-4.jpg Today, I tried to measure the vacuum level inside the plenum wi...

•Harpo and Chico Marx play a piano duet in the movie titled "The Big Store". Does this exist on a roll somewhere? Bruce Grimes

•It has been a dream for a long time: play a musical piece, let it be recognised by a computer, and generate a score. For those interested in the subject, use Google, enter "Ali Taylan Cemgil", and be surprised! Doctor Cemgil, after 14 years of studying and investigation, finally graduated on the su...

•If chain perforations repeat rather than play a single solid note, it indicates there is too much bleed which can be from oversized bleed cup hole or due to porous pouches. So your pouches are not in as good a shape as you may have thought. Hint: Always replace 100 year old leather on music machine...

Just a note about playing reproducing rolls on pumpers. In the past I have taped over the bottom two and top three holes on the tracker bar to play Ampico rolls, but this summer when I was in London I observed a technique that seems to work and you don't have to worry about adhesive from tape gummin...

•Does anyone know of a current supplier of the Sankyo 20-note musical movements which play a card strip or loop? I have chased some leads but find they no longer supply them. I want to buy a small quantity of them. Thanks, Kevin McElhone - Northampton, UK.

•Although a bit off topic this is in reply to John McClelland's question about roll scanners and roll readers. For a number of years I thought it would be fun to be able to play some of my MIDI instruments from a 31-note organ roll. To be able to play a physical roll I believe adds to people underst...

•I have a Steck Pedal Duo-Art Pianola. When I play a Duo-Art roll with the 'Duo-Art' setting switched on, the bottom three notes and the 4th and 3rd notes from the top play even though they aren't meant to. Any ideas on what I could do? Karl Juelg [ Duo-Art on/off switch [ https://www.mmdigest.com/A...

Karl A. Petersen wrote about (email addresses for) persons active in WAV->MIDI fields ... good idea! (Karl please put the guy below on your list). This is what I found today (no time to check out the web-page): > Paul J Walmsley writes: > >> In the great WAV->MIDI debate everyone has been focussing ...

•Andrew Taylor and others mentioned the need to play a pneumatic stack from a computer. I had mentioned a few weeks past that I had phoned Ken Caulkins, owner of Ragtime Automated Music, about his AMICA-advertised 'Miniature MIDI Air Valves' that actually fit in-line with your tracker bar tubing! I ...