•[ Ref. 190825 MMDigest ] The earliest of the medleys that I have (1, 2, 3 etc.) appear to be Aeolian Co. rolls not cross coded to Ampico rolls. It might be important to remember that American [Ampico Corporation] was in financial difficulties, and had been forced by the banks to sell Mason & Hamlin...

Dear Jody, How is the baby and your wife doing. I'm not going to ask how your doing after you "insomniac" comment! [ Everyone's doing fine. We named the baby Carolyn Jane Kravitz. [ Ev (my wife) arranged maternity leave from our veterinary hospital [ until about mid-January except for the last two w...

•During the period 1986 through 1990, we built 2 Band Organs from Theatre Organ pipes. The first was a fully chromatic organ placed in a 32' trailer with fold up doors on both sides. It is set up to play on "O" rolls. It also has a full keyboard so it can be played manually. Depending on what tunes ...

•I put up more tunes recorded from my piano onto my web site today (URL below): ~~~ Dance Music ~~~ o "All By Myself" QRS #1456 - p/b Max Kortlander - Nice tune, but with a dissonant base. Why'd Max do this? (A: Because he could) o "Humming" QRS #1376 - Snappy tune that'll put pep in your step! o "Y...

•Hi Robbie and All, I live in Cornwall UK, and guess what? The central line of totality of the eclipse goes right above where I live. It lasted over two minutes and was just quite unbelievable. Over 1 million people came into the county of Cornwall, with most in the area where I live. The total popu...

•[ Ref. 030418 MMDigest, Material for Pneumatic Hinges ] Regarding the use of so-called "pillow ticking" for pneumatic hinges: pure white canvas "duck" is available at some awning stores, made to military specifications, which can be depended upon for enormous strength per thickness and also for gre...

•I was amazed to see 1939 and 1940 Artistyle catalogues in the list of Ed Sprankle's roll catalog collection (040825 MMDigest). The Artistyle roll-cutting operation was a creature of the Second World War. Historically, all the UK Angelus-Artistyle rolls, both 65- and 88-note, had been made for Sir H...

•I just got home from cleaning out the apartment of a roll collector named George Grossman, who is 87 years old. His family is afraid he isn't able to live alone anymore and put him is an assisted care facility. George always told me that in his will, he was leaving his piano and rolls to me. Since ...

•To Any and All Interested Parties, Subdued Greetings from The Bronx. I have lost my lease on a storefront that I have been renting for almost 35 years. I need to divest myself of almost everything, as I have to be out of the premises by the end of this month (May). I need to re-box 1000s of music r...

•A couple of things I can suggest looking at, or at least eliminating from the list of possible causes: 1. First, Can you give some further description of the character of the squeak? Is it in the frequency range of a door hinge? Higher? Lower? Any other similar sound you can compare it with? If it ...

•Some years back, here in San Antonio, Texas, a music store who sold the PianoDisc system went out of business and I acquired their _new_ inventory of PianoDisc 3.5" _floppy diskette_ disc media. All of it is still in the jewel cases, some of which have broken hinges, etc., due to plastic fatigue. T...

•Hello all, greeting from Wales in the UK. I am researching a writer and composer of Music Hall songs. His name was Henry (Harry) Beckett. He lived in Hoxton, Shoreditch, right on the East End of London, from 1867 to 1915. He described himself as a songwriter. He used the name Harry Beckett for his ...

•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 "...

•Regarding the player pianos of old, versus the new solenoid models, there is truly a resurgence and renewed interest in players despite the mechanical system and quality involved. But there is actually a huge gap between these two distinctly different kinds of instruments that will never be closed...

•"Ballet Mecanique" Disklavier Concert Review, 11-19-99 (Part 1 of 3) [ This 3-part article reviews the concert which featured 16 [ Yamaha Disklavier pianos, performed at the University of [ Massachusetts, Lowell MA, on Thursday, November 18, 1999. [ Previous MMD articles about this topic may be fou...

•A Larry Givens Ampico Treasure -- Rescued from Oblivion! When one begins collecting of anything newly, doors seem to open (as according with luck, I suppose, but seeming magical) with items presenting themselves to one, almost for the option of having or no. This was the very case with myself when...