•I guess the consensus is about the same all over that the player piano is a slowly dying remnant of a now by-gone era that may never return again. This is a sad statement but it bears a great deal of truth. It seems that all sorts of mechanical musical instruments have lost much of their value and ...

•When my partner and I took over Duffy Player Pianos in Palisades Park, New Jersey, I had the dubious honor of attending the 'Aeolian Player College' in Memphis, Tennessee. It was a one-week-long seminar on the players that were available in that year, 1978. As mentioned, the pianos were terrible an...

•> However, the tenor section (2nd last to the top) always goes out > before the rest. Your question seems a bit confusing to me. You say that the tuning pins are tight, but that the section (I term sections: bass, tenor (below middle c to the low end of the bridge), treble, mid-range (-treble) (whi...

•Picking up on Bruce Grimes' comments in 111001, it seems there is more to this story. I've not read nor do I know where Frank Milne made the remarks about the "sloppy" crescendo mechanism of the Ampico. I assume he made them before working with that system. In any event, a study of the rolls that M...

•Hello MMD, Below is an email I received from a gentleman from Seattle. I also spoke with him on the phone, and his idea is both unique and of interest to our mechanical music community. Hopefully, some one in the Greater New York City area can provide him with some leads on a player piano suitable ...

•One of the inactive members of AMICA has passed away, but his collection seeks a new life. To find out details, contact Michael Marchetti, the executor of the estate at (631) 398-6453 or (631) 474-3189. Available items include: - 1903 Aeolian Orchestrelle V player reed organ, 7 rank, pressure blown...

•To the MMD, This email is to report and update a previous post of mine. A month or so ago, I asked for help from the MMD, on a supposedly faulty 'on - off' electric switch, in a 1970's player piano. As usual, the incredible people of the MMD had many wonderful suggestions. At the time I made the re...

•Previously, in 2013, I announced my intention to host a centennial event for my Aeolian pipe organ Opus 1280. We have selected Oct. 17, 18 and 19, 2014, for the event. On the first day, Friday evening, we are planning a neighborhood open house program. On Saturday morning, younger children may atte...

•Hello fellows! I am back, firing on all cylinders after, briefly put, a 2-year medical adversity interruption. Recently turning the spry middle age of 62, I am grateful to have re-emerged from first, an emergency surgery for a lower abdominal aortic aneurysm performed New Years Eve 2013 (sporting a...

•Here is what I have finally decided concerning the restoration of my player piano, at its current point. 1. The player mechanism is not worth my trouble or additional time, to do anything else on. 2. The player mechanism was already in poor condition when we got the piano. 3. I am not going to frui...

•I am sure there are dozens of opinions about tracking devices used in different player pianos. If the player is tearing up rolls then something is wrong. My all-time favorite is the method that shifts the tracker bar and, if I ever get the time, then that is the system I will install on my Duo-Art...

•Once again looking at the For Sale on the Internet Items from the 161019 MMDigest, http://www.mmdigest.com/ForSaleOnTheInternet.html * Early Story & Clark player piano -- $200 OBO in the Pittsburgh, PA, area. It's not that "early" mid teens I think, nice wood, small bench (real player bench?)! * Fi...

•Pianos and rolls this time, and one lot of Welte rolls, even! In Santa Rose, CA: a Hardman Duo upright player piano, $650. A 1959 console player in good condition, with bench and rolls. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/msg/5951972103.html In Alexandria, NH: a 1930 Wellsmore & Co. player piano, $50. ...

•Thanks to Mike Walter for correctly identifying the early Ampico system. I had written privately to Giovanni with comments, much in line with what Mike said. I also told Giovanni it has been my understanding for some time that Welte held patents on the concept of changing vacuum levels to impart ex...

•Jeff Davis is correct that most Universal Players used Perflex pouches. At the time these were touted as "forever" pouches, not subject to the ills of leather pouches. Well, the company supplying the Perflex changed the formula from what was tested as the "prototype" and the results were disastrous...

•Geoff Ward asks in the 170816 Digest: > Regarding the explanation by Bob Conant (MMD 170813), is the Marque > Ampico inferior in any way (apart from lack of a motor) to the > ordinary powered model A Ampico? Is an upright Ampico inferior > to a grand Ampico? In the same MMD issue Mike Walter tells ...

•To Bill Koenigsberg [171220 MMDigest] et al, A. I have spare parts to a metal stack Concertola. Want 'em? B. I have a half dozen or so fan expression boxes, several types. I was hot to collect them -- for a while... Want 'em?? Both the boxes (and the fans themselves, in some cases) vary from each o...

Greetings: Joe Hutter poses the question: > I would be most interested in knowing the general consensus regarding > the question ==> What is the best value in piano tuning equipment > currently on the market? I am quite sure others can knowledgably answer the question that Joe is actually asking, wh...

Hello, This is an interesting discussion. Thanks to everyone for their comments. John Wale wrote: >I am not especially familiar with solenoid pianos, but what I have heard >has been quite acceptable. Certainly for the 'wine bar background music' >type of application, a real piano has much more prese...

•I received announcements of this event on almost the same day in e-mail press releases from Germany, and in the just-arrived July 1997 edition of Das Mechanische Musikinstrumente (DMM), the publication of the German Society for Self-playing Musical Instruments (GSM). The short article in DMM was wr...