•I want to comment on the article by Terry Smythe about his experience with The Piano Exchange. I consider myself friends with both Terry Smythe and Rick Smith, owner of The Piano Exchange, and I wondered if I might help. I called up Rick, who told me that they have sold countless hundreds of player...

•In writing about rolls on eBay, I just remembered my only bad experience in this line. Several months back, there was a discussion in MMD on "President Harding March". Within a week or two, that title pops up in a collection of 5 rolls being sold on eBay. I am the high bidder for about $60.00. I em...

•Robbie, a pneumatic with a clogged bleed would play just fine, but it would not repeat. A clogged tube leading to the pouch could cause sluggish performance. Of course, a tracker bar pump in theory cleans both the bleed and signal tube, so you gave good advice, but for the wrong reason. Offhand, if...

•Eliyahu Shahar says in the MMD of 3/15/02, "The real problem here is that additional six inches is also reflected in the length of the piano keys and it also has an effect on manual playing the piano." Mr. Shahar should say that the key length has an effect on the mental playing of the piano, since...

•I would like to respond to Larry Lobel's article in 020318 MMD wherein he says that lengthening the keys, (such as was done in the Duo-Art), will have an effect on the manual playing. Larry wrote: > The laws of physics cannot be repealed or ignored; piano key length > definitely and absolutely has ...

•Hello everybody: I am looking for an original electric pump from the bottom of an Aeolian or Steinway Upright. Aeolian used an unusual method of mounting the motor on these Duo-Art Uprights with the conventional "box" pump with four pneumatics and a large flywheel, (as opposes to the early "steambo...

•I did not respond to Michael Concordia's request for advice in quieting a piano, as I felt that there would be a flood of answers that would make my response unnecessary; however, I have not yet seen my answer published, so here goes. The most common way to quiet an upright piano is to simply prop ...

•Wayne Tougher really hit the nail on the head in his article about helping Larry Broadmoore. I have known Larry for many years, and have no doubts about his intelligence and honesty. I am willing to loan Larry a few thousand dollars if it will help him to start delivery of the PowerRoll. I know tha...

•Does anybody out there have rolls played by William Merrigan (Bill) Daly? He made a few rolls for both Aeolian and the Red Paper Welte. The only roll I have is Irving Berlin's "I Love A Piano", played by Merrigan Daly, on a Keystone recut. It appears that all these rolls were made around 1912 to 19...

•I have occasionally seen Steinway Duo-Art uprights that have a lever-operated five-position switch at the left side of the levers that controls the player, such as play-reroll, tempo, etc. I always wondered exactly what this lever does. I recently bought a Steinway Duo-Art with this control, and I ...

•This is written in response to Rob Buckingham's query about Weber pianos. Probably the best testimony to their quality comes from Steinway, of all people. A few years ago, there was an article in AMICA Bulletin, or possibly Pianola Quarterly, about the contract between Aeolian and Steinway that all...

•I thought I would add a few comments to current discussions. The first thing is that I have never understood how, starting in 1913, Duo-Art could use the loudness difference between the dampers on or off as the foundation for all volume levels, while Ampico didn't discover it made a difference unti...

•One subject I definitely agree on with Craig Brougher is the necessity to inspect valve leather. One little thing I want to mention is that the leather might be so good that it does not need to be replaced. While I do not rebuild pianos for a living, I have fixed a fair number of them, and I notice...

•I would like to add in a different point of view to Julian Dyer's answer to the question of adding foot bellows to an electric Duo-Art. Contrary to Mr. Dyer's explanation of "expression boxes with three sets of valves', "isolating the theme side", "two sets of theme primary valves" and "crossover s...

•I want to respond to Julian Dyer's article on converting an electric Duo-Art to a foot pump Pianola. I will agree with you that you are describing the way Aeolian, the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments did it, with hundreds of pianos on the assembly line and teams of technicians a...

•Hello -- Does anybody out there have a working Cecilian player? This company used rolls that are about 14" wide, so obviously they cannot be played on anything but a Cecilian. I have a roll that I would like to hear, and it lasts only 4 or 5 minutes. Please email me at and leave out the geentroep. ...

•Does anybody out there know where a set of keys can be re-covered in ivory? I know about the laws banning the import of ivory, but I thought I heard about some people who have sets that have been on the shelf for a number of years. As long as I am asking, is there anyone who makes up entire sets of...

•I read about the four ways to play folding book music, and I wanted to add something. Being sufficiently bored several years ago, I wondered what music might sound like if were played as a "mirror image". In other words, the music still plays from beginning to end, but the paper is now reversed on ...

•I made a minor discovery the other day about square grand pianos that might be helpful to any poor souls who have to work on one. Don't get me wrong: I love the all-too-rare example of a Square that can still make music, but as we know, they are few and far between. The real problem is adjusting th...

•I must be losing my marbles or something. How in blazes did both Ed Sprankle and Matthew Caulfield identify Ray Henderson's "Just A Memory" as a waltz? It just so happens that this tune is one of my favorites, and it is no more a waltz than "White Christmas" or "God Bless America". Both Ed and Matt...