•In regard to vacuuming a tracker bar using a modern vacuum cleaner, think of it this way: the old style hand pumps were invented and used before the days of modern high-power vacuum cleaners. If one tests a hand-held tracker bar vacuum device on a vacuum gauge, you will discover the old-style hand ...

•I'm looking for some historical information and speculation about the Tel-Electric piano player system, having recently seen one in action at Joe Lavacchia's house in Massachusetts. What a fantastic device! I could use any facts or opinions on the following questions: - How many of the 65-note bras...

•Following up on Spencer's posting about electric vacuum pump noise, I downloaded the patent for the Motor Player Company vacuum pump. It is quite an interesting device. A series of baffles for intake and exhaust air appear to be surrounding the turbine and the motor. According to the description in...

•The router control that Craig Smith suggests is only good for a universal brush-type motor. It is not likely that this is what is in the device Marvin Horovitz has. If the motor is an antique induction motor, there is really no perfect speed controller for it. Variable frequency drives (inverter co...

•I have the manual on all five Leabarjan models, but I am away from home 'till the end of this week. I made my own perforator based on the Leabarjan with improvements, using a cranking device to advance the 'time' scale. This is necessary for reasonable speed, as it takes forever and a day to use th...

•Having spent a good deal of time rebuilding my 1928 Marshall and Wendell Ampico in 1981, I recently spent a lot of time re-rebuilding it. I have rebuilt the primary valves and completely rebuilt the expression devices, intensity control and crescendo units. I replaced pouch leather, rubber cloth, g...

•I have just been given a Wurlitzer baby grand, S/N 35123, which I have discovered was originally equipped with some form of player device that has since been removed. The piano is in quite fine condition, and I would love to restore the player functionality, but I have no idea where to even begin t...

•The "jack box", or reversible stack, for an Aeolian pipe organ is the pneumatic device which converts an electrical pulse generated by a hole in the roll to a continuous electrical signal which turns on a particular rank of pipes, and which cancels this signal when another short pulse, generated by...

•Good Morning All, Realizing the intent, Andy Taylor's comment of replacing the 220-volt suction motor with the 110-volt double vane appears to be sound, as throughout the years a common practice was to substitute a higher voltage rated device to a lower voltage circuit. A classic example was to tak...

•Marc, I checked the piano and the soft pneumatic has inexplicably stopped working, but more importantly the audio "automatic gain control" (AGC) on the recording device is doing its job far too efficiently, raising the volume of the quiet passages and softening the louder passages. My next step, th...

•Re: Kip Williams' question in the 110724 MMD At this moment there are two iPod/iPad/iPhone interfaces for playing MIDI files directly to a MIDI device such as a MIDI-player piano (PianoDisc, Disklavier, QRS, etc.): Line6 MIDI Mobilizer (Line6) and IRig MIDI (IK Multimedia). We now need an app that ...

•I have an Ampico B piano that is missing the music roll brake control valve assembly, mounted at the right rear corner of the spoolbox. This is the device that "feels" the thickness of the top spool. As the paper diameter on the top spool gets smaller, a needle valve gradually leaks more atmosphere...

•In addition to this subject I would like to comment that in my opinion a good (the best?) way to transcribe a piano roll to a good MIDI-file is to play the piano roll on an excellent restored player piano or reproducer and record the MIDI-file 'from the keys' with an optical device like the PNOscan...

•Hi Randolph, For someone who does not tune often, I think it makes sense to use a good electronic device. I would also check by ear to verify the machine is doing the "right thing." Simple tests, such as octaves, double octaves and arpeggios should be fine for most situations. I often use my finger...

•Bill Mote inquired about the tracker scale for his Kimball Organ Soloist rolls. There were two versions of the Kimball Soloist. What Bill has is the earlier version which is a simple player that controls shades open and close via a timing device (similar to what the Welte Philharmonic used) control...

•Greetings all, I read Dale Abrams question about using an iPad for playing MIDI files. I don't know of anyone using an iPad device to wirelessly transmit files, but PianoDisc has a wireless system that they have been using for several years. It uses a small receiver under the keyboard to transfer t...

•I have used my iPad as a MIDI controller. There are two ways to connect it to the MIDI input on the player piano device, depending on if it has a standard MIDI jack and/or USB port: 1. The Camera Connection Kit comes with a USB connector. Use a USB cable to connect the two devices. 2. iKey makes a ...

•Hi Joyce and All, All serious piano and player piano rebuilders have what's called a piano tilter. Basically, it's a simple device that attaches to the back of the piano that allows the user to 'roll' the piano over onto its back while at the same time raising the piano about 1-1/2 feet off the gro...

•[ Troy Taylor wrote: > Does having one of these operating lead to a degradation of the > player piano performance? Hello Troy, My 1927, late model, Reproduco has the vacuum device you describe on its standard 88-note type [spool box] tracker bar. There's no problem with the installed small clamps a...

•Fellow Brit. Steve Greatrex asks if there is an Android MIDI player [121227 MMDigest]. I have found an Android app that will play MIDI files and output them to a USB MIDI device. It is not a MIDI file player in the conventional sense but it will play and output MIDI files to a USB MIDI device; no s...