•We just returned from a week in Japan with son Eric, visiting all things new to us. We spent several hours with MMDer Vic Searle who has been there since 1945, building organs, teaching opera and the organ, and recently building half a dozen band organs, despite having nearly been totaled out by a ...

•In the early years, Seeburg used several different brands of pianos made by other companies, and in later years the firm made its own pianos, resulting in six different groups of serial numbers. You can find details at the Mechanical Music Press website. Please go to http://www.mechanicalmusicpress...

•The "M roll", published by J.P. Seeburg Piano Co. or Automatic Music Roll Company, is one of several early designations for the MSR roll used by Seeburg photoplayers, a variation on the H orchestrion roll. Over the years, Seeburg (and later its subsidiary, the Automatic Music Roll Co.) used many di...

•The book that Art Reblitz and I are doing about American coin-operated pianos and orchestrions is coming along nicely. Here are some items of esoterica that would be useful if anyone could supply, necessarily a partial list, but challenging enough! Catalog or other illustrations of any all Engelhar...

•Here are some of the esoteric coin-op piano and orchestrion ads I am seeking. Most are rather obscure, and some may have never issued catalogs, but am giving it a college try! Dave Bowers - Ariston (any ads or flyers with pix) - Armstrong (any ads) - Automatic Musical Co. Binghamton, New York; Pict...

•I have not written to this group; however I have been following it. I inherited a Gavioli reed organ from my mother-in-law over a year ago. I found MMDer Craig Smith, and he has been a great help, mentoring me though the restoration process. He was extremely helpful and made sure that I did not do ...

•Instrument Dimensions Needed for new Reblitz-Bowers book on American Coin-Operated Pianos and Orchestrions Our massive new book on coin-operated pianos and orchestrions made or sold in America is nearing completion. Together with a description of every style of instrument made by each company, we'r...

•Noble & Illustrious Mignonites, Et al! A few months ago I was in touch with one of the estimable authors of the catalog, The Marvelous Tho Unknown Popper "STELLA", and was informed that copies of it were available no longer. ("He who hesitates loses!" plus, "Strike while the iron is hot!" about cov...

•I am seeking the hobby world's help for a "cold case". In around 1989, I restored an early 1840's plain fruitwood case keywind cylinder box with a drop flap door, for the late Fred Kingsmill. The box plays 8 tunes, no tune sheet. Fred always assured me he had the tune sheet. Before Fred passed, he ...

•Hello MMD readers, from our campsite near Skowhegan, Maine, and run- ning e-mail at 9600 bytes/second today on the analog cellular 'phone. I have just downloaded another stack of Internet letters, including several issues of the Mechanical Music Digest, the latest of which concerned a posting for "...

•Hello MMD readers, With great interest, I've been reading the recent string of postings about the American versus the British Duo-Art players and also the texts about the differences in the expression boxes. Having made Duo-Art rolls which "push" the entire spectrum of the instrument, for years, I'...

•Pat DeWitt wrote in 011119 MMDigest: > I am looking for an 88-note push up player, unrestored. For anyone who > does not know, this instrument (sometimes called a Vorsetzer) preceded > the self-contained or "inner player" mechanism and was literally pushed > up to the piano where its fingers were p...

•Hello MMD readers, Our July 11th concert, here at Searsport Shores, started out with an anticipated low turnout, due to the fact that this particular musicale was scheduled for a weekday and not a Saturday evening presentation. We were wrong, however, since the empty seats began to fill as the firs...

[ Editor's Note: [ [ The following is an article written by Craig Brougher which [ addresses some misconceptions about the Ampico A and B [ expression systems. Robbie did the editing, with input [ from Craig and Terry Smythe. There are 4 drawings which [ are available as a suppliment to this article...

•I attended the auction of mechanical music items in Sydney (mentioned by Michael Wolfe) and can add some more details. All prices are in Australian Dollars. On top of the prices shown, the auctioneers applied a 10% "processing fee' and a "bank charges recovery fee" of 0.08%, i.e. a knock-down price...

•Dear MMD: I can certainly agree with the daunting warnings about the difficulty of building your own musical box. I have been working on exactly that project for the last two and a half years. In summary I can agree with the conclusion of other correspondents: no it is not impossible; yes it is a v...

•Anita Hull's question [160105 MMDigest] concerning her musical chair with the name Chevob and Baker-Troll of Geneva raises a number of questions about these delightful novelties. As well as offering the following I welcome pictures and information that might add to the following: Chevob et Cie was ...

•I see that the Madame recorded for Welte, Ampico, Duo-Art and Art-Echo. Does anyone know the earliest date of any of her recordings? For people that have heard her recordings over the time span when she recorded, do they hear a change in the style of her playing? Thanks, Dave Krall Hammond, Indiana...

•The earliest recordings I have of Marguerite Volavy are her Duo-Art rolls recorded in 1914. They are not a good representation of her art, unfortunately. When asked to compare her playing style over the many years she was active in the piano roll industry, I often look at the only work she recorded...

•The recordings made by Marguerite Volavy provide a good demonstration of the extent to which musical style changed during the player piano era. As a student of Leschetizky, she was one step removed from Liszt and her early rolls, with their split chords and excessive rubato, demonstrate the fashion...