•Hi Folks, Regarding keytop piano players, this is an area in which I have a special interest, having pursued for 9 years and recently restored a 1950 Aeolian Pianola. I am currently actively researching its competition's similar later devices. The 1950s onward chronology goes something like this. I...

•I just received forwarded to me this late notice of a no-buyer's-premium auction by Cilpeper Auction Center (540-825-9045; fax 540-825-7040) of everything collector/packrat Jim Wells of Fairfax, VA (703-560-8767), doesn't want to take with him when he moves, including antiques, glassware, china, ho...

•Responding to Al Pebworth's opinions, I would like to clarify my ideas to match what he had to say about them in MMD 971015 First, I do realize that the pianos will continue to "go downhill" without proper restoration. I realize in that that it becomes necessary to warn people about this, which I d...

•There have been several recent postings concerning problems which player piano techs face, and how their good work is sometimes destroyed by the piano owners, children, or tuners. I thought you might enjoy a story with a happy ending for a change. Earlier this year, my player piano was needing some...

•Tim Baxter wrote: > I have heard that during the player piano's hey-day, there were > instruction booklets on how to make a plain ol' 88-note player sound > more musical, by judicious use of the separate bass and treble levers, > pumping more or less intensely, creating accents in proper places, > ...

•Hi, my name is Bill Masterman and reside in Tacoma, Washington. I have been reading MMD for over a year but am now subscribing. For a living, I operate a coin operated vending and amusement machine route of over 800 vending machines, video and pinball games, jukeboxes, etc. My hobbies include resto...

•Identifying the pure Ampico B has been a recent topic here. I would like to add my two cents to the discussion. The following brands have the pure Ampico B installation: Mason & Hamlin, Knabe, Chickering, Fischer. These pianos have the expression devices installed as part of the stack, as depicted ...

•Usually we take the summer off, but the unusual heat up in the Northeast is pushing our vacation month forward a bit, what with recordings, summer stock and stuff. I need some room still when I get back here to the "back room" and want to generally mention, that we will try to provide the sheet mus...

•In response to Matthew Caulfield's question, the Dynavoice players were made just a short distance from me at Plymouth, MI. My understanding is that they were made by some former employees of the Daisy Air Rifle company which had closed their doors and moved to a southern state. I've had several of...

•The Pianomation reproducing piano system was designed to play all available software, including PianoDisc, Disklavier, Internet MIDI files, analog or digital storage media. It was designed to install into any piano with as little bother as possible-- to be installed by the normal piano tuner techni...

•Just a few weeks ago I got a call from someone who had heard that I was "in that player piano stuff", and was wondering if I would be interested in a player piano that could be mine free as long as I hauled it away. So that you know that I live on a small island in the State of Hawaii, (and yes, we...

•Hello Bryan and MMD readers, When our Musical Wonder House museum opened in 1963, I wanted to buy a Hardman Duo wholesale from Mr. McDuff (then in charge of Aeolian-American) but they couldn't guarantee what kind of player action we'd receive, and so the idea died on the vine. (We planned on giving...

•Hello Everybody, The recent discussion on the subject of "mandolin effect" attachment gave me a happy feeling of recognition, because I just have finished restoring this part of my Fratihymnia orchestrion. On the register unit this effect is called Cymbal, but on the test roll, with handwritten com...

•I read with interest D. L. Bullock's account of restoring a late version Aeolian player with lots of plastic parts. If ever there was an example of "GIGO" ("garbage in, garbage out"), this Aeolian product of the 1970's certainly is the epitome. As Bullock described the valves in detail, it brought ...

•Considering the recent discussion of values, the most important thing to remember is that common instruments and rare instruments fall into separate categories. My experience has been mostly with automatic pianos and organs, so these comments relate mainly to coin pianos, orchestrions, reproducing ...

•Gribble Piano Co. of Kansas City was mentioned a few days ago in MMD. They did make a player in the late 1950's. The one I'm thinking of was an electric-driven 88-note pneumatic player called "Magic Fingers." It consisted of a drawer under the keyboard to carry the spool box and a single-row pneuma...

•While I agree with Doug Henderson that the Smithsonian exhibit should have showcased more pneumatic players, a lot of us are interested in the more modern piano actions. Here's a technical description of the original Pianocorder, which I just found in a 1977 clipping from Electronic Design, one of ...

•What will happen to all our painstakingly restored treasures after we are gone? Children are growing up with different surroundings and music than we did. Much of it is simply not suited for piano. Have you ever tried to play the theme to "Pok'emon" on the piano? Our time was different. Many great ...

•What a great pleasure it was to have been in New York City's Carnegie Hall once again! The architecture is simple and functional (though it is more than 100 years old) and the acoustics of the Hall do in fact sound perfect. There was a lecture before the concert, featuring a question and answer ses...

•Hmmm. My understanding is that "zither" covers them all. Some of the other names derive from a common term: zither, cytherium, cithera, cittern, gittern, guitar, sitar, kithara, chitarra, and on. From "Musical Instruments of the World" we read on page 164: "Chordophones are instruments in which sou...