BuLLetin - Stacks are the Stanford

Volume Ten, Number Three - March, 1973

BuLLetin

THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

Published by the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors'Association, a non-profit club devoted to the restoration,distribution and enjoyment of musical instruments using perforatedpaper music rolls.

Contributions: All subjects of interest to readers of the bulletinare encouraged and invited by the publisher. All articles must bereceived by the 15th of the preceding month. Every attempt will bemade to publish all articles of general interest to AMI CA membersat the earliest possible time and at the discretion of the publisher.

Advertisements: Personal ads by members are accepted andinserted in the Bulletin Board section at a rate of 5¢ per word, $1.00minimum. Businesses and persons wishing more space may use thefollowing guidelines:

- Advertising rate is $10 per quarter page or multiple thereof.

- Camera-ready copy must reach the publisher by the 15th ofthe preceding month.

- All ads will appear on the last pages of the Bulletin, at thediscretion of the publisher.

Publication of business advertising in no way implies AMICA'sendorsement of any commercial operation. However, AMICAreserves the right to refuse any ad that is not in keeping withAMI CA's general standards or if complaints are received indicatingthat said business does not serve the best interests of the membersof AM ICA, according to its goals and by-laws.

I HnlPICO fOUlS OUT!11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111'111111111Ampico Baseball Team. From a postcard belonging to Max Dechau, amember of the team. He was aninstaller of Ampico actions during thisperiod and later worked as an Ampicotechnician for Goold Bros., Buffalo.He died in August, 1971. He ispictured standing in the rear with a baton his shoulder.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

Frank Loob

VICE-PRESIDENT

George Coade

SECRETARY

William Reed

BULLETIN

Hester Zimmerman, Publisher3550 Ridgebriar DriveDallas, TX 75234

NEW MEMBERSHIP AND MAILING PROBLEMS

Tom Meeder494 Stanford PlaceSanta Barbara, CA 93111

TREASURER

Bob and Barbara Whitely

AUCTION

Gar Britten

BOARD REPRESENTATIVES

Mel Luchetti, Northern California

William Mintz, Southern California

Aggie M. Pate, Texas

Please direct all general correspondence to:

AMICA INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS

P. O. Box 1169EI Cerrito, CA 94530Telephone: 415-237-3813

Third International Convention of AutomaticMusical Instrument Collectors' Association

Convention AM ICA '73

PLAN NOW TO ATTENDAMICA '73IN TEXAS

* A Real Texas Bar-B-Q

* Guest Artists

* Technical Sessions

* Home Tours

* Original Literature Display

* Texas Hospitality

Charlie W. Johnson, Convention ChairmanP. O. Box 38623 Dallas, Texas 75238

Home Phone 214-341 8584 Office Phone 214-749-2929

Page Three

Page Four

Aeolian Piano Roll Artists. Original ofthe photograph was obtained fromMrs. Frank Milne and was in tatteredcondition.

FRANK MILNE

A short biographical sketch and someinteresting photographs submitted byAlan H. Mueller.

(Ed. Note: Most of this material wasobtained from Jane Rogers, FrankMilne's daughter, who presently livesin Fairport, New York. She and herhusband are good acquaintances of theauthor, Mr. Mueller.)

Frank Campbell Milne was bornin Dundee, Scotland, on May 7, 1887,to Alexander Milne and IsabellaHenderson Milne. He was one of 12children; those known are Alexander,John and Robert (twins), Daniel(killed in World War I), Katherine andAnne (twins), Rebekah and Isabelle.He received his education in Dundeeand began formal piano study at the

Baseball Team of East RochesterChamber of Commerce (about1915-1916 or a bit earlier). MaxDechau is seated with a dog. Standing

Frank C. Milne, courtesy of JaneRogers.

Frank C. Milne, courtesy of JaneRogers. This is an earlier photo,probably taken while he was employedby Aristo Co.

age of five, although he already knewhow to play. He also played thebaritone horn in St. Margaret's Band,Dundee, and the trumpet and clarinet.He studied for two years at theConservatory at Edinburgh.

In 1905, at the age of 18, hecame to New York City and shortlythereafter took up residence inNewa rk, New Jersey. H is firstprofessional work was for the AristoCompany of Newark where he didarranging for 88- and 65-note rolls. Itwas there that he met his future wife,Theodora B. Edgeworth, who was alsoemployed there. They had threechildren: Alexander F. Milne, Jane M.(Rogers) and Barbara Anne (Shaak).

It is not known how long heworked for Aristo. About 1919, orshortly before, he started to work for

with straw hat in center is CharlesStoddard. This team was made upmostly of American Piano Companyemployees.

the Aeolian Company. He wastransferred to East Rochester whenAeolian and the American PianoCompany merged in 1932. He was theonly full·time artist at Aeolian from1932 to 1941. Arrangements at EastRochester were made as described inLarry Givens' book, "Re·enacting theArtist". New York City still used thespark-chronograph recorder until theclose of the studio in 1935.

After the close of roll·cuttingactivities at Aeolian-American in 1941,he returned to New Jersey and went towork for Max Kortlander at QRS. Heworked for QRS until 1946 when heretired and became a music teacher inhis home in Belmar, New Jersey. Over135 QRS titles of Milne arrangementsare still carried in the current QRScatalogs. He died there on May 20,1959.

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Page Six

AMPICO ROLL CHRONOLOGY

by Richard J. Howe

Many collectors of reproducingrolls are interested in knowing whentheir rolls were issued. Most of themajor manufacturers of these rollsissued monthly bulletins containingdescriptions of the new rolls for thatmonth, plus a list of the better-sellingrolls issued previously. Unfortunately,these bulletins are hard to come by;and in many cases, particularly when anew system was getting started orapproaching extinction, monthlybulletins were not issued. In any event,the author has made a major effort toestablish the dates of issue for as many

Ampico rolls as possible by collectingcopies of Ampico bulletins, magazines,postcards, etc. No Ampico bulletindated before Apri I, 1921, has beenfound thus far. One exception is theWinter, 1920, Ampico Magazine;however, it does not contain rollinformation. It is hoped that earlierbulletins will be found some day, sincebulletins are referred to in Ampicocatalogs published in 1919 and 1920.Other sources, such as copyright data,can be used to date earlier Ampicorolls. Articles on this work will appearat some future date.

The author wishes to express histhanks to the following people whosecooperation in making copies ofbulletins available made it possible toprepare this article: Frank Adams,Nelson Barden, Vernon Brown, LarryGivens, Doug McGee, Ralph andElaine Obenchain, Bill Pixley, DavidSilverman, Sam Thompson, andperhaps others. Any additions,corrections, or comments wouldcertainly be appreciated by the author,who lives at 12335 Rip Van Winkle,Houston, Texas 77024.

MQnthNear ~ Instrumental ~ Accompaniment ~ _LP_

01/21

MonthlYear Ballad Instrumental ---f.QL Accompaniment .st2.!Y. ...-.LE....-

10/22 761 61151 202881771 61221 202961

02/21 59084X

59125202164 11/22 781* 61233*

793* 61301*202971*203061*

901 61683911 61753

921* 61761*981* 61833*

03/21

04/21

OS/21

06/21

641002 41001 a41101

151002c

151071

61002 d

61101

241021b

241101

251001251071

261001261091

12/22

01/23

02/23

3/23

801841

851891

6131361383

61391961671

203071203123

203131203221

203231203301

203311*203401*

07/21

08/21

09/21

10/21

11/21

12/21

7100171082

8100181091

9100391082

701001 101003e

701031 101093

711003 111001 f711011 111061

721001 121003721033 121051

271001271101

281001281091

291001291101

301001301081

311001311041

321001321041

4/23

5/23

6/23

7/23

08/23

09/23

991 618431031 61983

1041 619931081 62093

1091 621031121 62213

1131 622211151 62271

1161* 62281*1171* 62341*

1181 6235362433

203411203501

203511203601

203611203701

203711203781

203791*203851*

203861203931

01/22

2/22

03/22

04/22

OS/22

06/22

612001612011

622001622011

531541

1200112101

2200322093

6048160571

212001212061

222001222041

202281202331

10/23

11/23

12/23

01/24

02/24

03/24

1251 6269362783

1261 627931271 62871

1281* 62883*1291* 62953*

204271204381

204391204491

204501*204601*

07/22

08/22

09/22

701711

6089160963

202571202661

04/24

OS/24

06/24

13011311

13211331

13411351

6296163093h

6310363201

6321363303

204611204691

204701204801

204811204901

3000130011

MonthlYear07/24

08/24

Ballad13611381

13911411

Instrumental6331163403

6341363503

--...fQe...204911205001

205011205111

Accompaniment Story ~

3002130031

3004130061

~onthlYear

OS/27

06/27

Ballad

20112033

2043

Instrumental

6756367663

6767367741

---fw2.208611208703

208711208811

. PageSeven

Accompaniment S12rl. ----I:f.....-

3073130741

09/24

10/24

11/24

14211431

1441*1451*

14611471

63513 20512163603 205191

63611* 205201*63693* 205271*

63703 20528163793 ... 205371

07/27

08/27

09/27

20512073

20832103

21112133

6775167821

6783167991

6800168103

208821208881

208891208973

208983209051

12/24

01/25

02/25

03/25

1483

1493

1503

1511

63803,638931

63903.64003J

6401164111

6412364241

205381205461

205473205551

205561205651

205661205761

30113

3012130151

3016130191

10/27

11/27

12/27

01/28

21412163

21712181

21932213

22212243

6811368223

6823368361

6837368453

6846368533

209063209151

209161209261

209271209411

209423209541

04/25

OS/25

06/25

07/25

08/25

09/25

10/25

11/25

12/25

~ 01/25

02/26

03/26

04/26

OS/26

06/26

07/26

08/26

09/~6

10/26

11/26

12/26

01/27

02/27

03/27

04/27

15211531

1541

1551

15611573

15831593

16011613

16231641

1651

16631671

16811691

1701

1711*1733*

17431781

1791

1801

1811

18231841

18531871

18831891

19011911

19211933

19411951

19631973

19831991

2001*

6425164381

64393k

64551

6456164663

6467364793

6480364911

6492165033

6504365163

6517365303

6531365453

6546365581

. 6559165721

65732*65843*

6585365983

6599166133

66143

66233

6624366333

6634366463

6647366591

6660366693

6670366813

6682166953

669911

67113

6712367261

6727167361

67373*67553*

205771205871

205881205991

206001206101

206111206211

206221206331

206341206431

206441206551

206561206661

206671206771

206781206881

206893206991

207001*207111*

207121207221

207231207331

207341

207481

207491207591

207601207701

207711207821

207831207941

207951208061

208071208171

208181208271

208283208391

208401208503

208511*208603*

3020130231

30241

3025130271

3028130311

3032130351

3036130391

3040130423

3043130461

3047130501

3051130541

3055330581*

3059130621

306313064140003

40013

3065330663

40023

3067130681

40031

3069130701

3071130721

9000390013

90023

90033

90053

9006190071

90081

02/28

03/28

04/28

OS/28

06/28

07/28

08/28

09/28

10/28

11/28

12/28

01/29

02/29

03/29

04/29

OS/29

06/29

07/29

08/29

09/29

10/29

11/29

12/29

01/30

02/30

03/30

2251

2263

22732303

23132333

23432351

2363*2381*

23932411

24232441

24532463

2473

24812493

25032513

25232543

25512581

25932601

26132633

26412653

26632693

27012721

27312753

27632773

27832791

28012833

2841

2851

6854368641

6865368761

6877168853

6886368933

6894369033

69043*69101*

6911369151

6916369243

6925369363

6937369433

6944169503

6951369581

6959369683

6969369753

6976169823

6983369883

6989369981

6999370043

7005370123

7013370213

7022370293

7030170363

7037170411

7042370493

7050370541

70553

209553209653

209663209761

209771209903

209913210061

210071210191

210201*210351*

210363210521

210531210641

210651210741

210751210881

210893210991

211001211101

211111211201

211213211291

211303211441

211453211541

211551211641

211651211751

211761211851

211861211941

211951212041

212051212151

212161212311

212321212371

212381212431

212441

90093

9010390123

30751

100005100255m

90133 10026590143 100275

10028S100305

100315100335

100345

Page Eight

MonthNear ~ Instrymental ~ Accompaniment §!QJy ....kE..- MonthlYear Ballad Instrumental ---..fQ.2. Accompaniment .§!Q!l: ---1f.-70583 212481 100365 02/33 71073 214251

71083 21429104/30 2863 70593 212491 100375

70621 212541 100395 03/33 71093* 214301*214341*

05/30 70631 212551 10040570651 212611 100435 04/33 71103 214351

214391

06/30 2871 70661 212621 10044570671 212681 100465 05/33 71113 214401

21444107/30 2881 70683 212691 100475

2891 70693 212751 100505 Summer/33 71123 214451 10081571143 214521 100825

08/30 70703 212761 10051570713 212831 100535

07/3309/30 70721 212841 100545

70741 212901 10056508/33

10/30 70753 212911 10057570771 212981 100595

09/3311/30 70783 212991 100605

70823 213061 10063510/33

12/30 70833 213071 10064570883 213131 100665

11/3301/31 70891* 213141* 100675*

213211*12/33 2931 71193° 214621°

02/31 70903 213221 100685 2941° 214651°213281

01/34 2951P 7120JP 214661P

03/31 100695n 214691P

02/34 2961P 7122'P 21470'P04/31 100705n 214723

03/34 71243 214791 100885

05/31 213441 100715 214831213491

04/34 2971* 71253* 214841*06/31 70913 213501 100725 2981* 214871*

70923 21354105/34 2991P 1263P 214881P

07/31 213551 214911213581

06/34 7127# 214921P

08/31 100735° 214961

07/34 71283q

09/31 100745n

08/34 71293910/31 213661 100755

21369109/34 713039

11/31 213701 100765213741

71313r 215021:r10/34 100985

12/31 213751 100775 215061

213781I 11/34 71323 215071 100995

0,V/32 70933 213791 100785 215111

70943 2138213005P 7133# 215121P12/34

02/32 70953 213831 100795 3011 215161

21386130218 713438 215171801/35

03/32 70963 213871 215211

21392102/35 71353 215221 101025

04/32 70973 213931 215261

70993 21397103/35 71363 215271 101035

05/32 71373 215311

04/35 71383 215321 101045

06/32 215371

05/35 3031 71393 215381 101055

07/32 71403 215421

Summer/35 71413 215433 101065

08/32 215483

07/35

09/32

08/35

10/32

09/35

11/32

10/35

12/32 71043 21415171053 214191

11/35 71443 215543

01/33 71063 214201 215581

214241

MonthlYear Ballad Instrumental

12/35 71453

71571 21584171601 215883

71651 . 21589371663 215941

t 215951215991

01/36

02/36

03/36

04/36

05/36

Summer/36

07/36

08/36

09/36

10/36

11/36

12136

01/37

02/37

03/37

04/37

05/37

06/37

07/37

08/37

09/37

10/37

1l,i/37

12/37u

01/38

02/38

03/38

04/38

05/38

06/38

07/38

08/38

09/38

10/38

30513073

3083

3091

3103

3123

7146371473

7148371493

71503

7151171543

71551

7173171741

71753

~ Accompaniment .§!Q!Y ~

215593215631

215641

215651215681

215693215731

215741215781

215791215831

216163216183

216193216213

216223216253

216263216303

216313216351

Page Nine

MonthlYear Ballad Instrumental -EQIL Accompaniment Story ---'=L11/38v 3133 71763 216363

3153 216413

12/38v 3163 71773 21642371813 216483

01/39

02/39

03/39

04/39

05/39

06/39 71823 21649371843 216503

07/39

08/39

09/39

10/39

11/39

12/39w

71863 21659371873 216663Y

*By difference.as8202, 58212, 59323, and 59333 also listed: 41081 not listed.b24100x and 2410lx not listed.c59561, 59572; 59581; 59591; 59601, and 59611 also listed.d58183, 59521, 59531, 59542, and 59551 also listed: 61092 listed in 7/21.e10106x not listed.f57867 also listed.g61391 is Inspector' s Test Recording and is not listed in Bulletin.

61403-61593 were apparently all accompaniment rolls. Approximatelyhalf of these are listed in 1/23 bulletin.

h6303x not listed.~60583 was issued in 12/24.)60593 was issued in 1/25.~64393; 64403, and 64413 not listed in either 4/25 or 5/25 Bulletins.

66961, 66971, and 66981 (Tunes for Two) were issued in 2/27.m100245 was actually listed in 12/29.nAssumes 1 issue per month.°From Lyon & Healy (Duo Art) Bulletin of 11/33.PFran Lyon & Healy Duo Art Bu1letin--one month ahead of Ampics Bulletin.qEstimated on basis that Milne was cutting one roll per month.rFrom Lyar & Healy Ampics Bulletin of 9/34.sFrom Lyon & Healy Duo Art Bulletin of 12/34.t7156l and 71633 listed.uApparently not issued.VDates very uncertain.WDate very uncertain--cou1d be 1940.xAlso 58857.Y21664x not listed.

Page Ten

colorado

westTI}(~ Sunday magazin('ofTh(' Daily SentinelSunday, Nov. 5, 1972

Single Copies lOc

By Ed OUeSentinel staff writer

De's gotpiano rollblues

He's a player•plano man

Steve Johnson at the keyboard

Accordi/;6 to sociologists, more andmore Americans pursue hobbies intheir le"ure time today than ever before. And, as leisur~ time activitiesgain in popularity, some of these hobbies become more uncommon.

Apparently, some people aren't content with relative sedate past timeslike collecting stamps, coins or rocksor painting landscapes or buildingmodel ships. These people pursueunique hobbies which offer moreoriginality and challenges.

THERE ARE ENERGETIC menwho collect and rebuild antique carsor World War I vintage airplanes orEarly American weapons. Sometimesthese hobbies become so extensivethat extra space is needed to housethe collected items.

Steve Johnson, owner of Johnson'sHouse of Flowers at 1350 North Ave.in Grand Junction, is one of those individuals who falls into the latter category.

Johnson collects and rebuilds playerpianos. He has four plus about 1,000rolls of music and last month he hadto convert his back porch into an ex-

Page Eleven

Johnson t>xamines the innards of his nickelodeon

Page Twelve

Whil~Johnsonmakes no claim at producing concert style music, his

relics pound out nostalgia at a furious pace - and loud.

'I 'have some

great old

ragtime tunes'

/ Continued from page 4-5

tra room to shelter his 1925 parlorgrand.

NOW, DON'T LAUGH. Johnson isn'talone in this unusual hobby. As amatter of fact, there's an organization,the Automatic Musical InstrumentCollectors Assn. (AMlCA), whichboasts of a nationwide membership ofmore than 550 player piano buffs.

Johnson, who began seriously pursuing his hobby about one year ago,has been able to collect a valuable assortment of pianos dating back to 1905.Some of the music rolls, still playabledespite their age, were made in 1919.

"I have some great old ragtimetunes like 'Paul Revere Why Don'tYou Ride Again' and 'If He Can FightLike He Loves, Look Out Germany,' "Johnson said with obvious pride."One of the exciting things is thatyou can hear the music as it wasplayed in those days. I even have music that was recorded by the originalartists. "

THE MAJORITY of Johnson's music rolls date from 1919-1928, the timein American history when player pianos were the center of a nationalcraze.

Johnson, who spoke about his hobby with enthusiasm, explained that aFrenchman named Forneaux built thefirst player piano based on a pneumatic principle in 1863. The pianola wasintroduced in 1905 and "by 1910, therewere all kinds of player pianos cn themarket."

According to the statistical information Johnson has collected along withhis pianos, 208,000 player pianos weresold in 1919. This popularity continuedthrough the mid-1920s with 205,000recorded sales in 1923.

BUT A COMBINATION of factorsended the surge of player pianos in1929, Johnson noted with some degreeof sadness. "Radio was becoming popular and then records came alongwith the Depression," he said.

"Oh, they still make some playerpianos," he added in a tone of voicethat implied "but not like they usedto."

Johnson's piano collection coversthe years 1905-1932. He has a pinaolabuilt in 1905, a parlor grand and upright from 1925, a baby grand dated1932 and a nickelodeon also built in1925.

'Every bar and

bawdy house

had one'

"EVERY SELF-RESPECTING barand bawdy house had one." he saidas he pushed the button on the nickelodeon and an explosion of foot-stomping music from the era of nickel cigars and Model T's engulfed theroom.

"I had to put a button on it becauseit took only quarters and no one I knewwould ever come to the house withquarters." Johnson shouted over theroar of music my grandparents prob~

ably danced to 50 years ago.He reached inside the nickelodeon.

pushed a lever and the level of themusic was lowered to a more comfortable range. He walked over to the parlor grand and. with the lIickelodeonplaying in the background. flipped aswitch and worked the pedals so another ragtime tune filled the air andthe level of noise was raised to thatof a clanging trolly car.

"BEFO~ THE PORCH was remodeled, I had only plastic over the windows and one night the policeknocked on the door because one ofthe neighbors had complained aboutthe noise," Johnson shouted. "Although you can control the sound level, they aren't quiet machines.They're not something you play at atea party."

He flipped the switch which quieted the parlor grand and walked intoanother room where the 1925 Baldwin upright stood. Above the uprightwas a pict ure of Teddy Roosevelt,which seemed very appropriate withthe music from 'the nickelodeon stilldrifting in from the other room, anda United States map sprouting pins indicating the location of AMICA members.

Johnson sat down at the uprightand a strange looking device called apushup (pianolo) and began peddlingaway while the music roll unwrappedanother old classic tune and the pianokeys jumped frantically with thespeed of his moving feet.

"TillS IS GREAT for your legs," hesaid. "It keeps you in great shape forskiing. "

Later, after the music had subsided, Johnson sat at the baby grandand explained how he became inter-

ested in such an unusual and selectivehobby.

"That parlor grand was in mywife's family so I got it when we weremarried," he said. "I started \yorkingon it and pretty soon I was spendingmy vacations on my back under thepiano, fixing it up.

"A Iittle more than a year ago, Ifound out I wasn 't the only one interested in them. So, I was able to fix itup completely," he added.

THAT WAS ONLY the beginning,however. For once Johnson learnedwhere he could locate replacementparts, he plunged into the hobby andsoon began acquiring whole pianos.

He discovered the baby grandstored in a garage in Grand Junction,purchased the nickelodeon from adealer in Los Angeles, followed up anewspaper ad to acquire the uprightand bought the pinaolo from a dealerwho was selling out his buisness.

Johnson surveyed his collection ofpianos and said, "its pretty space consuming. I guess I'm going to have tokick the habit or build a new house."

However, as is indicative of an avidhobbiest, he quickly added "but Ihave space for another grand or upright. I was fortunate to pick up 300rolls but don't have the right piano toplay them."

Page Thirteen

; " IN ADDITION to being space con-suming, rebuilding the vintage machines also has been time consuming.Johnson used a terminology understood perhaps only by music-lovers,antique buffs or the mechanicallyminded when he described how hehad restored the player pianos totheir present condition.

HSure, it's time consuming but' itsalso a good challenge," he said."Now, this baby grand model cameout just before the Depression, a verybad time to try to sell something likethat. And, as a result, there aren'ttoo many around."

Despite the time, money and spaceinvolved in collecting player pianos, itis obvious that Johnson takes extraordinary pride in his hobby.

But, when asked why he collectsand rebuilds the instruments, Johnsonshrugged and smiled. "Becausethey're there," he said. "No, I lovemusic and I'm a gadget man. Besides,after I put something together, I liketo see it work."

He walked over to the nickelodeonand pushed the button so the ragtimemusic flooded the room again. "Justsay I do it because it keeps me off thestreet and out of bars," he said andlaughed. • ••

~:m ~_

+ +

I Ij: +: +

I I+ QRS PLAYER PIANO ROLLS :tI REGULAR 88 NOTE iIt: AMPICO EXPRESSION I

DUO-ART EXPRESSION

RECORDO EXPRESSION

* Your collection won't be complete without QRS Player Rolls! S:

f. ~t ff <@>- !• catalog free +

: *J .IifI ff I* REEL & ROI~L SOUND ••: +

P. o. BOX~9 +t WILLIAMSTONI MICI-I16AN **+ .aa95

HELPlThe new catalog we put out this yearbrought so much additional businessthat the loyal staff at Player Piano Co.,Inc. suddenly find themselves fallingbehind.

Since half of AMICA members are ourcustomers, we'd like to ask if any ofyou would like to step around to theother side of the 'counter'.

A prospective employee, who thinksbe i ng a fu II-fledged part of thisfascinating business would be the (I)greatest is invited to Wichita for aninterview. We want associates who aredevoted to the player piano business.

If you think there's a better place tolive, you're right. Wichita-- it's not toobig-- not too small. Blue skies. Andnice homes sell cheap.

PLAYER PIM19 ca DIC•620 E. DouglasWichita K~n~~~ fl7?O?

Page Fourteen

THE CONSTRUCTION, TUNING, AND REPAIR OF TUBULAR CHIMES

by W. E. FlyntGarland, TX

~ Usually the upper end of thechime tube will have a solid metal plugin it, or perhap_~_ametal ring aroundthe outside. The purpose of either istwo··fold:

1. The metal in the upper end willbe su bject to considerable stresseswhen the chime is struck with thehammer, and eventually it wouldbecome deformed, or even crack.

ca n not swing against one anotherwhen they are struck during playing.They are to be struck, manually,electrically, or pneumatically, with asemi-hard hammer in a horizontalblow at the upper end of the tube.Often a rawhide padded hammer isused. The hardness of the hammer willgreatly influence the strength of theupper overtones, and hence brightnessof the overall tone.

o inaud~ble----

2. The lIend loading" which resultsfrom an extra weight in either or bothends influences the tone quality-generally subduing the brightness ofthe tone; i.e., reducing the intensity oft he upper overtones, .and possiblyaltering their pitch sl ightly, relative tothe unison tone.

The plug or ring on the lower endof the tube can be used to IItrim" thefinal tuning to exact pitch. If the plug

# e inaudible

1 st

fund.

t--~~------------ _

Tubular chimes usually hangfrom a support on some type of cordlooped through a hole in the upperend of the chime, and it is vital thatthe chime tube be l>therwiseunencumbered. Likewise, it isnecessary that the ch imes of a set bemounted far enough apart that they

6 th5 th4 tb

tone", and it is this overtone that givesthe chimes their characteristic timbre.It also makes the playing of chordsvirtually impossible. This is usually thelast audible overtone to die away afterthe note is struck, hence the name"hum tone".

The musical pitches of this seriesof overtones cou Id be represented inmusical staff form, as in Figure 1, forexample, the note "C". A similar arrayof overtones for other notes could bedepicted, of course, as transposedup-scale or down-scale.

Expressed in pipe-organ parlance,the second, third, fourth, and fifthovertones would be 6-2/3', 4', 2-2/3',and 2', respectively, and it is th iscombination of IIcoupled pitches" thatis commonly used on electronic organsto simulate tubular chimes. In this casethe 4' pitch represents the unisontone, and the 6-2/3' pitch representsthe hum tone.

This is the continuation of anarti cl e wh ich appea red in theNovember and December issue of theAMICA Bulletin, concerningxylophone bars, etc. The mathematicalanalysis of tubular chimes is essentiallyidentical to that of the xylophonebars, in that the overtone structu re ofthe two types of instruments is thesame. I mentioned in the previousarticle that the overtones higher thanthe first are present in the xylophonebars' tonal structure, but that they areinsignificant and are virtuallyinaudible. Such is not the case withtubular chimes, and in fact just theopposite is true: it is only the higherovertones which can be heard, becausethe fundamental pi~ph actually is inthe deep bass range, and can be heardonly if a chime is struck in the centeror at one end with the heel of thehand, or with some other soft object.In this way, the higher dominantovertones do not get excited intovibration, and the fundamental pitchcan be heard, if the ear is placed nearthe center, or near either end.Musically, however, it is of noimportance, because it is normallyinaudible. Likewise for the firstovertone.

Ignoring the second overtone forthe moment, it is actually the thirdovertone wh ich we identify as theunison pitch; i.e., this is the markedpitch, such as C, D, E, etc. The lengthof the tubular chime is chosen to besuch that the third overtone falls inthe general range of pitches that weth ink of as IImusical". The nextovertone, the fourth, occursapproximately at a musical interval ofa IIfifth" above the unison tone, andthe next overtone, the fifth overtone,occurs at about an octave above theunison tone. This octave relationshipserves further to establish the thirdovertone as lithe" pitch of the chime.

Retu rn ing now to the secondovertone, which occurs at a musicalinterval of a "major sixth" below theunison pitch; it is called the IIhum

FIGURE 1. Overtone structure of tubular chimes,expressed in musical staff notation

is removed from one end, the pitchcan be expected to rise about twosemitones, depending on the weight ofthe piug. However, the tonal characterof the chime will be influenced veryIittle by the presence or absence of thelower plug. A contemporary Germanfirm manufactures chimes withmovable clamp-type sleeves at thelower end, for tuning to exact pitch.

Materials for ch imes usually aremade of brass, probably as much forits decorative appearance and ease ofsoldering as for its tonalcharacteristics. During someexperiments, I found that ordinaryone-inch steel electrical conduit can beused with fairly pleasing results, if itscosmetic qualities are not important!

Tu bu lar diameters usually are thesame throughout the compass of a set,except in more expensive chimes, butthe necessity of this "variable scaling"is probably open to question.

Occasionally, sets of used chimescan be found, usually among pipeorgan bu iIders and buffs -- sets of 18to 25 tubes being typical. If you arecontemplating the purchase of such a

set, look carefully at each chime tubefor small (or not-so-small) cracks neareach end. They mayor may notinfluence the tone quality now, butany such crack will likely lengthen intime, ultimately damping the tone to asort of "clunk" sound. All is not lost,however, if there are cracks, since theycan be repaired with silver solderingtechniques, but this requiresoxy-acetylene torch equipment. Theplug in the end being repaired must beremoved first, and the crack must becleaned out thoroughly with a file,hacksaw, or scraper -- down to freshunoxidized metal -- before filling thecrack with silver solder. The inside ofthe tube must then be filed smooth, sothat the plug will fit in again. Verylikely ordinary soft solder was used toaffix the plug into the tube originally.However, soft solder probably wouldnot survive in a crack repair. Finally,the chime must be brought into finaltune, and this likely will have to bedone during the soldering of the pluginto position. If no plug is used, tuningmust be done by cutti ng off the end ofthe tube in very small cuts, so as notto overshoot and go sharp. It can beexpected that the pitch will changeone semitone upward when about 3%

Page Fifteen

of the length is removed.

Undoubtedly, the appearance ofthe chime will suffer during a torchrepair job, possibly even ruining theplating, if the chime happens to benickel or chrome plated. Replating bya professional shop, or simplypainting, would be recommended here.But if the tubes originally werelacquered or shellacked brass, they canbe resurfaced by mechanical means,such as sandpaper, wire brush, etc., oretched in a brass bright-dip solution. Afinal lacquer coat will protect thesurface from oxidation and will notaffect the pitch significantly, if at all.

One fi nal word for the usedchimes buyer: Most old chimes weretuned on a scale based on A-435,instead of the present day standard ofA-440. This means that the chimes willbe intolerably out of tune with anyA-440 tuned instrument, and so theymust either be used alone, or thewhole instrument (organ or piano)must be tuned downward to A-435.The latter solution might create otherproblems, so beware. The basic pitch(435 or 440) will probably be markedon one of the"A" tubes in the set.

1£'1' Pin., '11£'1' •4, ••• ,•,,",i ... i • i • , Lt. '" •u., ,*,t13 ,C'J ., '£'£1£1$ '*"'Z,, 'X' •• "X'i'Z' ;,''X' (Ii" , LF> iJ • " i '''Xpi'' pi.¥! •pl. i pXiS 'i"P,pX'X' £4$ pI'*' ¢lX'I' ,Pi" 'X

BOOK BEAT

by Anita B. Nickels

Many members are ardent jazzand ragtime enthusiasts and possiblythe following information would be ofinterest. In the August 1972 issue ofLibrary Journal mention was madeconcerning Jazz research and thebooklet:

STUDIES IN JAZZDISCOGRAPHY. 1.ed. byWalter C. Allen, 112p.Institute of Jazz Studies,Rutgers Univ. 1971. paper,$3.25.

"The Insitute of Jazz Studies wasfounded by Marshall Stearns, the latejazz critic, and transferred to Rutgersin 1966. Feel ing a need for somecommunication after being snubbedby academics, the Institute decided to

hold annual conferences 'to bringtogether those people who have delvedinto the recording and playing careersof various jazz musicians'. This slimvolume with no indication of whetherit is going to be a serial or not,contains the edited proceedings for thefirst two ann ual conferences ond iscographical research (June 1968and June 1969), plus a specialconference on the preservation andextension of the Jazz Heritage (Ju Iy1969). The full tapes are at theInstitute and are available to anyonewho wishes to hear them." (I realizethe above is concerned primarily withrecords rather than rolls but when oneis researching artists and/or music thepaths cross.)

Also in the same vein is a veryinteresting article appearing in theLibrary Journal Previews, Non-PrintMedia, December 1972 titled "Playthat ol'Ragtime Revival" by DeanTudor. Th is gives a very goodbackground on Ragtime as itcontri buted to jazz and some goodinformation on the greats - such asJopl in, Blake, Johnson and MaxMorath. The best part is the veryextensive bibliography at the endincluding books, periodicals, scores,sheet music, piano rolls, and records both anthologies and individualgroups. I will be very happy to pass onmore detailed information shouldsome of our members be interested.

Page Sixteen

-Fri., April 6, 1973

DANCE ORGAN-Vic Reina dusts the angel's head on the "Tdi Mohol" pipe organ, originolJyinstalleCIdn a dance hall in Belgium.. Times ·photo by Larry ,Anderson

,

Music Hath (harm --- Even if It's PerforatedBY MARY BARBER

Times Staff Wrlt.r

For a' Httle while there was this specialkind of music that promised beauty in everyhome aild money in the pockets of daring industralists.

At one end of this microcosm of time therewere live musichms for the rich, tinklingmusic boxes for thenot"so-rich and silencefor the masses..

At th~ other ,end were the phonograph, theradio,World War I and the depression of the1930s.,

And in between for about 30 year~ therewere the automated musicalinstrumeIlts.

It was a short and very happy'lifefor player pianos, automated organs, orchestrions,photoplayer pianos for the silent movies andtheir various offshoots. Then they we.re confiigned to. the obliv.ionprogre~s and socialchange inevitably create.

But, wouldn't you know, there still existsthat special breed of human who can remember back when, who can't leave an automaticgadget alone, who succumbs to nostalgia andgets hooked. And spends a lot of money.

These people collect automated musicalinstruments of that era that runs roughlybetween 1900 and .1930.

One of the country's largest suppliers is inSanta Fe Springs.

Sititngamid the city's oil fields and industry is G. W. MacKinnon's Automated Musical Instruments, housing a' wonderland ofthat bygone era.Th~ inventory, in rough chronological or·

ner i~.cludes:

-Music boxes, which were Jirst. availableto the publfciri the 185Os. A roomful of themdisplays ancient miniatures, the kind playedby a spiked roller, saine cranked by hand,~nd immens~ pieces· of furniture that playmetal disks.

-Piano players, the forerunner of. playerpian.os. These are cabinets that are pushedup to regular pianos, their felt-covered "fingers" tinkling the' keyboard. The earliestwere operated by pumping foot pedals thatblow air through perforated paper rolls.

-Player pianos, which most people haveseen and even operated. These also use perforated paper rolls, with the mechanism thatdeP,fesses the keys built into the piano itself.Some have foot pedals. Others use electricalmechanisms, some of which are coin-activated. "

-Reproducing pianos. Bu'i!t from' about1910 to 1928, these' not only. depress the keysqut reproduce the "phrasing,'(or'v.adabletouch, of individual pianists. Their specialpaper rolls are cut from ,a master pianist'sperformance.

-Qrchestrions, which are usua:U~'1'nassive

cabinets housing. several instruments, be-

Continued on page 22

Page Seventeen

FOR SALE

Frances Guyer714-822-4311 or714-829-6207 or writeBox 1293, Fontana CA 92335for further information

Our special thanks to Mr. AlbertBarone who contributed the originalad from which the December AMICABulletin cover was taken.

f

I~

" -rHeyO~t M~L.Y HI~ OWN CQ\\~I1"10N';."

~k( '-11

Approximate 5-ft. baby grand, ebony,mfg. "Ball ". Has player unit in drawerbelow keyboard.

•••Allan Bier, Honorary AMICAn, Dies January 8BULLETfNl For Sale! "Original Welte

Built Welte-Mignon". 5'4" grand, serialNo. 69752. Standard mohogany case.New key covers, new strings, new pins,case refinished (some minor flaws),player rebuilt. Plays very well. Withover 100 Welte-Deluxe rolls. $3500.

Bob Kent6837 E. SweetwaterScottsdale, Arizona 85254602-948-1622

.....

Allan Bier, a concert pianist,composer and Ampico recording artist,died at his home January 8. He was83.

A native San Franciscan, Mr. Bierwas widely known for hisinterpretation of Chopin and Debussyduring the years of World War I. Hestudied in Paris and Berlin with HaroldBauer and Joseph Lehevinne, and wasthe protege of Vladimir DePachmann.

Some of his fine Ampicorecordings include "In the Night"(Ernest Block) and two of his owncompositions, "Alastor" and "SummerDusk". He was made an honorarymember of AMICA through the effortsof Bill Knorp and Charles Cooper.

Mr. Bier served on the faculties ofthe Oahu College and the DominicanCollege of San Rafael. He was also amusic critic of the San FranciscoBulletin in the 19305.

For SaleAMICA Technicalities Book. $5.50including mailing charges. Reprints ofinteresting technicalities articles whichhave appeared in the AMICA Bulletin.spiral bound. with cover. Send ordersto:

AMICA Pins, $4.25. including mailingcharges. Sterling silver lapel pin or tietack with AMICA design.

AMICA Stationery, $2.00 (letter size).$1.75 (note size). including mailingcharges. Fine quality stationery withornate AMICA borders. Each packetcontai ns 25 letters and matchingenvelopes. Send orders to:

Bound issues of the AMICA Bulletins,1969-1970 combined, $15.00. 1971,$15.00. 1912, $15 Spiral bound, withcover Send orders to:

Mrs. Gladys Jones21 Mercedes WaySan Francisco, CA 94127

*Howard Koff2141 Deo Dara DriveLos Altos. CA 94022

*

Robert Lemon4560 Green Tree DriveSacramento, CA 95823

*

It's not nice to fool around withMother Hester. Send in your articlesand contributions to AMICA Bulletinbefore it's too late!

*

Page Eighteen

K. E.Alm1520 Lincoln StreetEvanston, Illinois 60201

Ralph Obenchain1134 ElmwoodWilmette, Illinois 60091

••• 1 recently acquired a 1927 Knabe5-foot, 4-inch Ampico A Art Case, butsomeone removed the snap-on clothcover wh ich covers the harp. Cananyone help?

••• 1 would like to offer theexperienced viewpoint of a constantuser of the AMICA auction. I havepurchased close to $1000 worth inrolls from these auctions and have soldclose to $2000 worth th rough theseauctions. In auctions where I amtrying to buy rolls, I would prefer therules suggested by Gene Dilthey sinceprices would tend to be lower. Inauctions where I am trying to sell rolls,I would prefer the present rules sinceprices would tend to be higher. Afurther consideration is the higher theprices, the higher commissions that goto benefit all members.

Considering auctions in general,those that have public bidding or fullex posure are obviously open andhonest. That is why the great coinauctions of Q. David Bowers or Stack'shave both mail and floor bidding.Antique and art auctions do the same.If AMICA were to deviate suddenlyfro m its considered standard andaccepted practice, might not thepledgers become suspicious? Since allthe rolls are owned by AMICAmembers, what is wrong with a systemthat tends to bring higher prices?

...below is a rubbing of the tracker barof a player action we have had in ourjunk room for years. Can anyone inAMICA identify it? There are 106holes and the pump unit is like aminiature early model Duo-Art,crankshaft variety.

0586,0587,0589,0592,0593,0601,0602, 0603, 0604, 0606, 0612, 0615,0616,0620,0622,0623,0624,0629,0632,0635,0640,0642,0646,0654,0656,0657,0658,0660,0662,0666,0667, 0669, 0672, 0673, 0674, 0700,0702,0703,0704,0715,0719,0720,0721,0722,0727,0728,0732,0736,0756,0777,0842,0844,0848,0852,0854,0857,0858,0859,0864,0867,0872,0875,0877,0879,0881,0882,0883,0886,0888,0889,0891,0892,0896,0898,0899,0900,0901,0902,0903,0904,0905,0909,0912,0913,0914,0916,0917,0918,0919,0920,0921,0924,0925,0927,0928,0930,0933,0935,0936,0939,0940,0949,0951,0954,0955,0961,0962,0963,0965,0966,0967,0969,0970,0971,0972,0973,0975,0978,0979,0983,0984, 0992, 0999, 01000 through01013,01015,01018,01021,01023,01024, 01025,01027,01029,01031,01032,01033,01035,01036,01037,01039, 01041,01043,01048,01050,01052, 01053,01055,01057,01059,01060,01061,01062,01063,01064,01067,01069,01070,01072,01073,01074, 01079,01081,01083,01086,01087, 01089,01090,01091,01092,01097, 01098, 01099, 01100, 01102,01103, 01105, 01106, 01107, 01108,01109, 01110, 01112, 01113, 01115,0111 6, 01119, 01120, 011 21 - ENDOF THIS SEQUENCE.

10001 - 10510 Series

10012, 10013, 10014, 10017, 10022,10024, 10025,10026,10031,10032,10034, 10036,10039,10041,10042,10043, 10049, 10050, 10052, 10064,10109, 10131, 10239, 10295, 10306,10355, 10359, 10363, 10364, 10365,10366, 10367, 10373, 10378, 10380,10381, 10382,10384,10385,10386,10391, 10393,10396,10397,10400,10401, 10405, 10411, 10412, 10413,10417, 10418, 10419, 10422, 10423,10424, 10427, 10429, 10430, 10432,10434, 10435, 10436, 10437, 10440,10442, 10444, 10447, 10448, 10451,10456, 10462, 10463, 10468, 10470,10471, 10474,10478,10481,10482,10484, 10485, 10487, 10488, 10489,10490, 10491,10492,10493,10496,10497, 10498,10499,10501,10503,10504, 10505, 10506, 10508, 10509,10510.

Alvin H. JohnsonFarmersburg, Iowa 52047

•. .1 am compiling a complete numericallist of Duo-Art rolls. Especially in thepopu lar category. Specifically, the1501-1999 series,713001-713453-0454-01124 series,and the 10001-10510 series. At thepresent time, I am lackingapproximately 475 titles. I don't knowif this has ever been attempted before,but I would like to hear frominterested readers. I have listed themissing titles below. The 5501-7520sequence is complete, so I don't needany titles there.

1502, 1503, 1504, 1508, 1512, 1513,1517,1518,1519,1524,1528,1529,1531,1533,1534,1535,1537,1538,1540, 1542, 1545, 1546, 1547, 1548,1549, 1553, 1554, 1556, 1557, 1558,1559, 1560, 1561, 1564, 1567, 1568,1571, 1574, 1575, 1577, 1578, 1579,1580, 1581, 1582, 1583, 1584, 1586,1588, 1589, 1590, 1593, 1594, 1596,1597,1598,1599,1600,1601,1603,1605, 1607, 1609, 1610, 1611, 1614,1615, 1621, 1624, 1625, 1632, 1634,1638, 1639, 1641, 1642, 1644, 1645,1646, 1647, 1648, 1649, 1651, 1652,1653, 1655, 1658, 1659, 1660, 1662,1667, 1668, 1669, 1674, 1675, 1679,1683, 1685, 1692, 1695, 1697, 1701,1704, 1705, 1701, 171 0, 1715, 171 6,1721, 1784, 1814, 1947, 1949, 1952,1954, 1956,1957,1975,1979,1986,1990, 1991,1995,1996,1997 - ENDOF THIS SEQUENCE.

The following numbers all bear the713 prefix.

713003, -010, -014, -055, -066, -067,-068, -070, -075, -077, -090, -164,-234, -254, -259, -347, -375, -415,-436, -440, -448, -452 - END OF THISSEQUENCE.

The '1713" prefix was dropped herealthough the numbering sequence wasnot changed.

0475,0513,0522,0526,0528,0534,0547,0551,0553,0558,0559,0563,0567,0571,0580,0582,0583,0585,

S. E. AldridgeW. N. Y. Player Pianos21 Alliger DriveTonawanda, N. Y. 14150

rQlItI, tree'"'.J:'!.ftxrm:rt;t:~.rq:.o::c~;~ .. ,.,~o;;.o~~~~::ctCt>+:\:=lS,,=;g·J·:1 ':IIIl::Ii..-- '. .'. . .

ILETTE RS TO THE EDITOR I

What the is purpose of thisorganization? Why have we chosen to~ntagonize other people in ourbulletin? People are all different andhave different goals and direction fortheir lives and I personally think it aDAMN SHAME that we shouldcondemn fellow members for certainactions when we cannot possibly knowthe shole story. In short, maybe noneof anything that has transpiredbetween Mr. Powell and Mr.Armstrong is any of my business, orany of AMICA's business either.

Both of these individuals havemade tremendous contributions to theplayer piano business over the yearsthat they have been in business.Durrell Armstrong has NEVER doneme any wrong and I have dealt withhim for over ten years. Harold Powellhas been very nice also and I have nocomplaints against him either.

I am not interested in how thesetwo individuals relate to each otherand neither should AMICA. Ourpurpose is not to separate each otherbut to unite each other under acommon interest. If personal problemsshould arise between individuals, theseshould be solved on an individual basisand space should NOT be allotted inthe bu lIetin for personal grudgesbetween individuals or betweenAMICA and others.

I was shocked to learn thatHarold Powell was expelled fromAMICA. Who do we think we are?Here is a fine gentleman that ispresently the only manufacturer ofquality recuts in the U.S.A. and WENEED HIM AND HE NEEDS US. Thisaction against Mr. Powell has got to godown as one of the most stupid as faras AMICA is concerned. I am in favorof readmitting him as soon as possiblewith no questions asked. I only hopethat he has not been offended to thepoint that he would refuse to again bepart of our organization.

Let's get our heads together andstart working for common goals. Thefirst order of business should be toprovide information and assistance tomembers. I find it deplorable thatAMICA has ever gotten into the rollauctioning business. This action limits

rolls to people of high income that canafford to pay ridicu lous prices for oldrolls. I cannot understand why peoplewill pay these prices for old rolls whenthey cannot compare with Powell'srecuts which can be purchasedreasonably.

If collectors that have to workfor a living do not have time to playmore than twenty rolls a day, howmany rolls do they need anyway? Theonly reason to have collections ofthousands of rolls is ego. Why shouldrich collectors possess all of the rollsand some people have very few? In thebusiness world, this may beacceptable. However, we are supposedto be collectors helping each otherout. I believe the way we should workis as follows:

A poll should be taken of AMICAmembers as to what rolls they desirefor their collection. When the poll iscompleted, the top ten rolls would bechosen and members notified by wayof the bulletin. Advance orders as faras who wants what should be takenwith cash in advance for the rollsdesired. AMICA members would thencontribute the use of the roll fromtheir collection and the roll and thecash turned over to Mr. Powell forrecutting at his customary price orperhaps at a reduced price if thevolume is sufficient. Mr. Powell couldtake it from there and do all shipping.This would be a service to AMICAmembers that would end all services,and be more in line with the goals ofour organization.

Granted, this would be a lot ofwork, but this would be a service toALL MEMBERS instead of the selectfew that can afford to drop what theyare doing and fly off to a conventionsomewhere. I think it is wonderfulthat we can provide testimonialdinners to the musical greats of thepast, but what about the members oftoday? Shou Id services to ourmembers be secondary to honoringpeople that have chosen to make theirliving in the past by cutting piano rollsor writing music? I think not. If wecan provide service to both, this wouldbe ideal. But if we must make achoice, then this MUST be left up tothe membership as a whole.

Page Nineteen

The logical way to do this is toask openly in the bulletin forsuggestions and print all lettersreceived. After a couple of monthshave gone by, a questionnaire shouldbe printed and sent to all members asto what the primary and secondaryfunctions of our organization shouldbe. When we as a whole have expressedour desires, then AMICAINTERNATIONAL- should make theappropriate adjustment to fall in linewith its members' desires. This is theway all successfu I organizationsoperate and I think we can do no less.

Undoubtedly this letter willoffend some people and perhaps itshould. When AMICA gets to the pointthat it is not satisfying the needs ofthe majority of its members, someonehas done something wrong along theway. We all learn from mistakes. If wecan accept ourselves as human beingsand not be bitter about the past, wehave a chance to grow and improveindividually and collectively. I canonly hope we are up to the task.

Nathan F. WoodhullS-K Piano Services630 Ohio St.Lima, Ohio 45804

...1 am compiling a list of publicexhibits of automatic musicalinstruments for the benefit of travelerswho might want to visit such displays.All information collected will bepublished in the AMICA Bulletin soon.Please help by sending me thelocations and if possible the names andaddresses of the exh ibits you haveencountered. I am starting fromscratch, so don't be ashamed to sendme the name of what you think is a"well-known place". I probablyhaven't heard about it yet. I have noaversion to listing dealers who areknown to have a reasonable stock ofinstruments in playing condition.

Jeff Wisnia155 Waban Hill Road, NorthNewton, Mass. 02167

Page Twenty

people pay $700 for a color TV andexpect to get a player piano for $100or less? I can't understand ... not anymore, that is.

Next, for singing along with yourfavorite rolls, an amplifier and mike isa must. Even if your voice is like mine(poor), it will sould pretty good over aPA system. I bought a Dynamic,Omnidirectional, 40 to 11,000 CPShigh impedance mike. I hooked it upto an old Bell and Howell 16 mmsound projector (myoid hobby) andset the speaker to the back and leftside of the piano top.

Can you playa ukulele or banjo?Even if you can't, it's very easy tolearn. All you have to do is get a fewConnerized Uke Rolls. The numberseries is 8000 to 8300 for the years1926, 1927 and 1928. The fingerpositions for the chords are shown onthe left margin of the roll, just like thewords on the right side. You shouldhear me going to town on "AtSundown", a favorite when I playedbanjo in the high school orchestra.Watch for this number series in yourauction lists; I have found seventeen ofthese Uke rolls this way.

If you have an upright and don'thave a mandol in bar, get one and putit on. That's an order. The "bargain"man gave me an old moldy bar fromthe loft over the garage from someother make of piano. It took quite abit of doing to relocate all the strapsand get it to work right, but I did. Itsure adds to the rendition of the oldmarimba-style rolls and even doeswonders for the latest rock songs."Try it, you'll like it."

Now to give some helpful adviceon how to make your player twice thefun to play and maybe become an"addict", too:

Next come the really big"goodies", a real "Bandbox" withth irteen "live" percussion instrumentsto keep your piano company. Howdoes th is grab you? Drum beat,cymbal crash, sleigh bells, wood block,triangle, maracas, tambourine,castanets, wire brush, drum roll,cymbal top, cow bell, snare on. Anycombination of one or more can beused. To operate it only requires the

by John Faunce

room. The prices were $175, $250,and $350, a far cry from the $25 Ifirst had in mind, though I had eventhought about $100 for a really finepiano. The one for $175 was a "dog",needed a lot of work and it pumpedvery , very, very hard. The man hadone out in his garage. He wanted tomove, as winter was coming on, andwould give me a real bargain as thispiano had been "rebuilt" a short timeago. It was a sorry sight sitting there inlittle more than a shed, on the dirtfloor, all the ivory gone from the keys,and badly out of tune. It had last beenin a saloon and it sure looked it. Tomake a long story short, I agreed topay $200 for the bargain piano (hesaid it cost that much to rebuild it)and ten dollars more to del iver it tomy home. He would give me someused ivory to glue back on the keysand about 30 old rolls. I left a depositand went home not too sure I had abargain or had even picked the rightpiano.

The next day I was more unsureand called the man to tell him I didn'tthink I could fix up the piano andwould take instead the $250 one inthe living room. The man reassured methat the piano in the garage was a goodone and he would glue the ivory backon the keys for me. So this is how my"Mellor" standard action circa 1925upright came to Iive with us.

I could write a book on all I wentthrough in the next twelve monthsworking on the piano, buying rolls andadding "accessories" that I willdescribe to you later. Luckily for me,the "bargain" piano turned out to be agood one after all, with a fine tone,easy pumping, and an excellent action.All it basically needed was tuning, thelost motion taken out of the lifts, etc.,a good drying out and a few minorrepairs I did myself. Because thetemperatu re in the basement stays at aconstant 65 to 70 degrees all yearround, after three years withouttuning, the piano still sounds great.Things like the Rose Bowl Parade,football, and baseball on TV don'tseem to interest me any more. Why do

The doorbell and phone areringing, my wife is calling to me but Iam in seventh heaven and can hearnothing. The vacuum gauge needlehovers around seven as I croon intothe mike, "What Kind of Fool Am I?".J. Lawrence Cook at six and one-halffeet per minute is playing his best stylewhile keys, hammers and pedals keep asteady rhythm. Suddenly a loud bellsix feet away bri ngs me back toreality. Doris, my wife, has pushed abutton I rigged upstairs to summon meback to the "get with it" world."Answer the phone", she yells as Istop pumping.

It all started a little over threeyears ago when Doris got the brilliantidea to give me something forChristmas that I had wanted for years:a player piano.

HOW I BECAME A PLAYERPIANO IIADDICT" WITHOUTREALLY TRYING

As a young teenage boy I wenteach summer with my parents to visitmy aunt and uncle in Harrisburg, Pa.They had a player piano that I spentall my time playing. This was to be thestart of my addiction. I remember onehot day I pumped so hard my "seat"perspired, so I carefully put anewspaper on the mahogany bench toprotect it. To my horror, when I wentto remove the paper it stuck to thebench (it must have been varnishedrecently) and after peeling the paperoff, you could read the morning newson the top of the bench. I was soem b a rrassed that I sti II havenightmares about it. Guess why mypresent bench is upholstered?

From a "For Sale" add in theevening paper and my crazy notionthat "They only cost abouttwenty-five dollars", my wife sent herbrother-in-law to look at the pianosadvertised. It- soon became toocomplicated for a Christmas surprise asthe pianos were thirty miles away.With four pianos to choose from atprices ranging from $175 to $350, Iended up going to pick one outmyself.

There were three players jammedtogether in the man's small living

Page Twenty One

United Pre,.

AMICA Southern California

•

Chester Kuharski411 Lemboley Ave.Monona, Wisconsin 53716

Milll'"aukeeBenny Meroff, one of

the n'ation's top orchestrale~ders .in the days of 'thebig bands, has .died·at theage of71.

He died Sunday 'at MountSinai Medical Center 0 fhardening of the arteries.

During' the big band eraMeroff became a nationalrecording star..Among Illshits were "little" .Boy ofMine." "Wherever You Go IWant Yo.u· 0 Know I J~ove'You," and "High onthe Hilltop."

Meroff, whoCQuld' play 15.instruments and . also' erformed as a juggler and comedian, entertained a~esti

mated 2.5 million"Americansoldiers overseas d uri n gWorld War ~I. He retired in1967.

-

Meroff Dies--A Top BigBand Leader

April 28 Regular meeting 7 p.m.Satu rday . Hosts Dave andMary Bowers.

WANTED: Aenumatic stack for 1923Steck Duo-Art grand. Write forspecifications.

May 20 Board Meeting 2 p.m.Sunday. Cecil Dover, 1746Courtney Ave., Hollywood.

to each side of the front. I have twoabout 7 inches in diameter that Ibought at a gift store for $1.50 each.They are a pair of "love birds" andwhen the light sh ines th rough, thepiano looks just like an oldnickelodean .

No one can say my player is not"automatic" now, because a fewmonths ago I added an old Sears handsweeper to my vacu um storagebellows. I had to mount it in aseparate box with lots of insulation tokeep it quiet. While I'm working at myworkbench now, the piano plays the"Warsaw Concerto" for me, but I stillsay "l'd rather do it myself". Mypiano will work on a minimum of fourinches of vacuum, so I can control theloudness with a bleed hole in the hoseand get four to twelve inches ofvacuum with the old sweeper. My footbellows will give me over fifteen inchesof vacu u m . Boy, does this addexpression'

If this all sounds like too muchtrouble, you must have never played"Alabamy Bound" with real trainwhistles blowing and drums keepingtillle to the beat, or a rousing marchwith drums and cymbals crashing.How about "Jingle Bells" or "WhiteChristmas" with real sleigh bellsjingling or "Valencia" with maracasand castanets keeping time? I havesome stereo records of nickelodeonsplaying but they can never take theplace of the thrill of a liveperformance on your own piano.

And now for the completepicture of an " addict" in the never,never land:

As the sun slowly sets in the westand colored Iights around the Bandboxsoftly twinkle off and on, the pianoperforms "0ver The Rainbow" playedby Peggy Lee. The glass doors revealthe hammers dancing, the motorcranks and bellows swaying softly, thevacuum gauge's slender needle sh iversat eight inches in delight wh ile thetriangle rings. The cymbal brush softlykeeps time to the movement of theblack and white keys, while a voiceover the speaker softly sings, IIAllYour Dreams Can Come True".

This instrument wasm anufactured by Electron ic OrganArts, 4949 York Blvd., Los Angeles,California, in 1959. It cost new around$600. I was lucky and picked up onefor $25 in a local piano store. It hadbeen traded in. They were made for anorgan, but organs don't use liveinstruments any more; it's all donewith electronics now. Look in theback rooms of your piano and organstores as I did and maybe you'll belucky too. If you had the instrumentsand a couple of old pinball machines, Ithink you could build one. Or, if youcan find an old Hammond Solovox,you've got it made. I used to own onemany years ago and had no use for itafter we gave up our spinet piano toour son. Then a few years before Ibought the player, I sold it real cheap."I made a big mistake." Oh, how Iwish I could get it back. For aone-finger operation it sure made nicemusic.

ability to tap your foot in time to themusic.

To operate the Bandbox, I use along doorbell button, mounted on asmall board for " t humb" or "foot"operation.

Now if you can't find a Bandboxor Solovox, this is the next best thing.Pick up some hand-played percussioninstruments. Besides the ones in myBandbox I also have the following, justlike Spike Jones: auto horn, bell,washboard (small), train whistle,cricket, kazoo, tom-tom, policewhistle, bird call, cuckoo call, chimes,Lawrence Welk spoons, smalltambourine, drUrTl sticks and woodblocks (for horses' hooves). I'm sureyou can think of many moresound-makers you may have lyingaround the house.

Now for the final touch, if youhave an upright and want to go thewhole way. Remove the slidingwooden doors and replace them withglass doors as I did. Then install threesmall 25-watt bulbs inside the lid atthe ends and center, to Iight up theinside. Add a permanent vacuum gaugeconnected to your storage bellows andmount it in front where it is easy towatch. Are you ready for the nextstep? Add colored lIart" glass designs

Page Twenty Two

**

RELIC OF PAST-ThisStandard phonograph,mode about 1905, ploys78 r.p.m. disc records.

Tlm.s Photo bv Lo!IIrrv Andlfrlon

*

Now the Smithsonian would like to restore the delightful antique and revive thechildish laughter it produced.

Lean government budgets, however,have no funds for children's carrousels sothe money will have to be raised privately.

The Smithsonian has asked us, as proprietors o·f the Washington Merrygo-Round column, to help promote theproject. How could we resist? Readers areinvited to slip a dollar bill, or more, iiJtoan envelope and send it to: MerryGo-Round, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.20560.

I T WILL COST $81,000 to restore the animals, clown heads, cherubs and courit

less acanthus leaves. Still more is neededfor the 2400 lightbulbs and the mirrol's.Mechanical parts must be repaired or replaced with handmade machinery. Atransparent,all'weather housing is needed.

Ass i s tan t Smithsonian SecretaryCharles Blitzer has reported to the Den·tzel family that costs would reach $500,000. "Unfortunately," Blitzer wrote, "thisis not the sort of project for which Con·gress is apt to appropriate- funds. Ther.efore, we have been attempting unsuccessfully to find one or more donors who willshare our enthusiasm and excitement

"

fic!ent in keeping themgoing," Reina noted-theyhave to be because the oldtime craftsmen are longgone.

Most of the instrumentswere made in Europe at atime when there was noother way to bring musicinto the home. The futurewas brilliant until a lot ofthings happened - financial restrictions clit off alot of customers, soundm 0 vie s were inventedalong with the radio, thejuke box appeared in public places and techniciansand supplier~ moved toother fields.

But it wasn't the end.Automated musie is aliveand well and in. the handsof Reina, Edwards, Bowerand thousands of others.

nos, to which reproducingequipment was often attached, to the detail in cabinetry, to some of thefine design and inventiveness of the instruments'makers.

A frequent visitor to thebusiness is Dr. R. H. Edwards of Villa Park, whohas 23 automated musicalinstruments and doesn'tconsider hiS collectionvery large compared tosome he has seen.

Edwards called himself"just a nickel-in-the-slotkind of musician," and typical. Like most, he gotone player piano, then gothooked; he loves the musicand, even more, the tinkering necessary to keephis treasures running.

"Most collectors are pro-

Merry-Go-Round----------

A DifferentMerry-Go-Round

installed in St. Jean's Palace, a dance hall in Antwerp, Belgium. The organ' and the dance palacewere built for each other.

The "Taj Mahal" is 26feet long, 20 feet high, 15feet deep; it has 600 lightsockets controlled by elaborate wi r i n g, displaystwo life-sized female figures made in Italy, and isconsidered by authoritiesto be the most finelyvoiced organ of its type inexistence today.

Like all the others in theSanta Fe Springs collection, the huge organ playsby perforations on paperthat actuate 101 keysEach instrument requiresits own perforation systemand the music Is not interchangeable.

Vic Reina Is manager ofthe Santa Fe SprIngs Mac- ----------------Jack AndersonKinnon's, which has a sis-ter branch In Charlotte, THE SMITHSONIAN Institution wouldN.C. like to install, of all things, a Washing-

Five years ago, when the ton Merry-Go-Round among the staidmubusiness began, he re- seums and monuments on the mall.sponded to a call for amanager, walked in the It would feature the sweetest calliopedoor and was "flabbergast- music this side of heaven and the mosted." rollicking animals ever to prance III a cir-

Of necessity, Reina has cle.become something of a The wondrous machine was built in ahis torian, philosopher, saner age by the Dentzels, emigrants whobuyer, s a I e sma n II n d became for carrousels what the Steinwayscraftsman. were for pianos.

As philosopher, he said,"It's probably part of the .~. A. De~tzel ahnd, after him, his sonnostalgia kick _ I guess WIlliam, l?V1ngly andcrafted the mostsome people are getting noble, pawmg horses, the most rambunc·pretty tired of the plastIc tious rabbits and the most lovable pigsworld." that ever whirled round and round.

He poi n ted out the The Dentzels' proudest turn-ofcthe-cen-c r aft s manship, whl.ch tury steeds were displayed at Woodsideranges from the overall Park in Philadelphia.excellence of Knabe pia. * * *

/BUT IN TIME, the happy tunes of ;the

calliope were stilled and the enc!}imting animals were displaced by a ho1isingproject. The merry-go-round was boxedand moved to Long Island, then to NewJersey. In the process, thebeautifwbeasts were bruised, bumped and broken.

To preserve them, the Smithsonian Institution bought them for $20,000 in 1966and stored them in a Massachusetts warehOuse where they have languished for sev·en years.

YOU CAN GET IT FOR FREE!

Did you know that AMICA has afilm that you can use ... for free? Greatfor parties, chapter meetings,acquainting your philistine friendsabout the fun and frolic of playerpianos. It's a one-reeler on Super-8film, with sound. The title? "They AllLaughed ..." Contact Ginny Billings,1428 Liberty St. EI Cerrito, CA, ifyou're interested in borrowing it.

Music Hath Charm--..Even if It/s Perforated

Continued from First, Page

sides the piano, all playing simultaneously ... andsurprisingly well.

-Photoplayers, a variation of both player pianosand orchestrions, operatedby a central keyboard andproviding seemingly unlimited sounds. One in theMacKinnon collection extends about 20 feet, is 4feet deep and 5 feet high,doesn't work and carries aprice tag of $12,000.

-Organs, and here's thelargest and most variedcategory of automated instruments.

The major categories oforgans are band, fair anddance. Band organs reproduce a sound somethinglike win d instruments,usually playing marchesand sounding like a marching band.

Fair organs are familiarto anyone who's been neara merry-go-round.

Dance organs were madefor dancing in Europe, andthey were everything.

The ultimate, probablythe largest and most ornate in the world, ishou~ed at MacKinnon'sand belongs to Q. DavidBower of Beverly Hills,who has literally writtenthe book on automatedmusical instruments,

Bower's six-pound "Encyclopedia of AutomaticMusical Instruments" concludes with pictures and ahistory of his "Taj Mahal,"a logical name for the ornate, dance organ whichwas built by Mortier and

gam 'mpf:';LlP

CONVERSION SCHE:1\4E FOR WELTE-LICENSEEdTive to replace

and built by1 1972

'"'J~(1)

.......::E(1):;:)

~

~<ti(1)

Page Twenty Four

AMICA BOARD OF DIRECTORSMEETING FEB. 11, 1973

Bulletin. They will not beautomatically listed in theBulletin or in other lists as"Business Members".

A February 11, 1973 Board ofDirector's Meeting was held from11:00 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. at the homeof Tom Meeder at 949 Stanford Place,Santa Barbara, Cal ifornia. Thefollowing voting members werepresent:

Frank Loob, PresidentGeorge Coade, Vice-PresidentBob Whiteley, TreasurerTom Meeder, Membership SecretaryBill Mintz, Southern CaliforniaBill Reed, Secretary

Prior to the meeting, MembershipSecretary Tom Meeder distributed newmembership lists and other papers.Secretary Bi II Reed distributed anabstract of mail received by theSecretary from December 8, 1972 toFebruary 9, 1973.

1. The minutes of the December 19,1972 Board Meeting in San Rafaelwere approved.

2. Treasurer Bob Whiteley reported:

2.1 There was an $8,563.60balance in the treasurya Ithough a $150.00obligation had not yet beenpaid.

2.2 AMICA income is largelyfrom mernbership dues.

2.3 AMICA now has a Californiaresale Iicense for auctions.

2.4 After paying for auctioncosts -- publication, mailing,etc. -- there was only a$274.70 auction profit forthe entire year. In otherwords,- the auction ventureis a service for merrlbersrather than a money-makingoperation.

3. In a discussion, the ExecutiveSecretary was considered an individualcontractor to do work for AMICAInternational. Storage cost of $50.00is included in the $150.00 a monthpayment to the Executive Secretary.

4. Membership Secretary TomMeeder reported that there are 709members in AMICA Internationalincluding 20 honorary members and28 members living outside of theUnited States. Only 152 members hadnot renewed their membership for1973. The organization is averaging anew member a day. Thirteen of theJanuary new members came toAMICA through the Oakland Museumpublicity sponsored by the Bay AreaFounding Chapter.

5. Sou the r n C a I i for n i aRepresentative Bill Mintz reportedthat the Southern Californ ia Chapterhas announced all meeting dates inadvance for 1973. The Board alsoreceived the February 4th SouthernCalifornia Board Meeting minutes.

6. The Board requested theSecretary to mail AMICAInternational Board minutes to allCommittee Chairmen.

7. President Frank Loob gave areport on the AMICA InternationalBulletin. The 31-page January 1973Bu Iletin was distributed to Boardmembers.

8. A motion and an admendment tothe motion were passed whichcancelled the Business Membership.The motions were:

8.1 For $25.00 a Bus]nessMember will be I~d ashaving a BusinessMembership and will receivetwo copies of the Bulletin.

8.2 The Business Members willbe assessed the same dues asany other member and haveno special listing(admendment to the motionand later the final motion).

As a result of these motions,businesses will be able tocall attention to theirspecialties and services onlythrough advertising in the

9. The Board requested PresidentFrank loob to investigate theoutcome of the Southern CaliforniaChapter election of officers.

10. The Boa r d a p poi n ted aNominating Committee to chooseofficers for next year. The members ofthe Committee are:

Mel luchetti, ChairmanCI iff BurrousBill FlyntTom MeederBill MintzBill ReedDick Reutlinger

11. The AM ICA International Boardwill be in an open (mail) meeting untilSunday, May 6 (see item 12). Mailsh0 u Id be sent to the ExecutiveSecretary:

Virginia Billings1428 Liberty StreetEI Cerrito, California 94530(415 237-3813

Motions made by correspondenceshould be supplemented with proarguments. When the motions aresubmitted to the Board members bymail for balloting, the motions should,if possible, have both the pro and conarguments. Board members are urgedto accomplish mail balloting promptly.

12. The next regular AMICAInternational Board meeting will be'Sunday, May 6, 1973 at the SanFrancisco International Airport.

13. The Board approved a summer of1973 AMICA InternationalConvention in Texas. The TexasChapter held its chapter meeting at thesame time and date (February 11) asthe AM I CA International Boardmeeting. President Frank Loob made atelephone call from Santa Barbara toTexas and received a confirmation thatthe Texas Chapter definitely wantedand would be responsible for anAMICA International Conventionduring August, 1973.

Page Twenty Five

FUN WITH THE ROSTER

AmpicoDuo-ArtWelte-Mignon (Licensee)Welte-MignonRecordoArt-Echo (Apollo)Angelus-ArtrioSolo CarolaApollo XHupfeld DeaTelektra

The periodic AMICA roster ofmembers is always as interesting to meas anything in the bulletin. I suggestedto Ginny Billings months ago that theroster be categorized in three ways:(1) alphabetically by members' names,(2) by states, and (3) by pianos. Oneof the Antique Auto clubs -- AntiqueAutomobile Club of America, Ibelieve -- broke their roster down bycars one year. There is a bit morereason for a car club to do that than apiano club, possibly. Still I think itmight be interesting for AMICA to doit if members will cooperate by listingtheir instruments in detail. Let metake this opportunity to congratulateTom Meeder on his nice job of putting.out th is new roster.

If you have thoroughlyscrutinized the new roster, you mustbe aware that AMICA's members ownsome rare and interesting pianos. Someinteresting conclusions could be drawnco nce r n i ng the present and pastavailability of makes, styles, and typesof reproducing pianos, if only allmembers would list their entirecollections; and, a lot more fully thanIIAmpico Grand". Some of the largestcollections are not listed. Personally,I'm proud of my monstrosities and ifyou own a gutted Brinkerhoff withqold-plated cherubs, you should be

by Bill Pixley

too. Anyway, luckily, the majority ofmembers are neight completelyashamed of their instruments nor toomodest to acknowlege them and Idecided it was about time someonetook an unavoidably unreliable census.

We have amongst our clubmembers at least four nine-footco nce rt gra nd re prod ucers: oneChickering Ampico and two SteinwayDuo-Arts. The fourth is a guttedSteinway that was brought back to lifewith /Ampico innards after months ofwork. There are, at least, sixseven-foot Duo-Arts, two seven-footAmp i cos, one seven-foot art caseWelte-Mignon (Licensee) and oneseve n-f 00tArt -Ech 0 ( art case) .Opposite the monsters are some proudIIbabies": five Ampico spinets, two

Number of Instruments Brand

376210372918972211

684

IIBaby Ampico" studio uprights, andtwo Tom Thumb Recordo IIMidget"uprights.

Members list 462 reproducinggrands and 155 reproducing uprights,the grands amounting to 75% of thetotal listed. Besides grands anduprights there are, at least, eightVorsetzers.

I would be interested to knowwhether the Ampicos originally hadsuch a large percentage of thereproducing piano market or whetherthe present roster as itemized is totallydeceiving. The following is a listing ofthe number of reproducinginstruments itemized on the roster andpercentage of the total for each brand:

Percentage of Total

55%30%5%3%2.6%1.3%1.0%.003%.003%.001%.001%100% (Approx.)

continues on next page

~ ~~

Board Minutes cont. SI LLY TITLE ADDITIONS

14. The Board learned that atto.rneyDoug Hickling of the Bay AreaFounding Chapter is securing anon-profit mailing permit for AMICAInternational.

15. The Board wished to complimentthe Bay Area Founding Chapter for itsoutstanding Oakland Museum exhibitduring December, January and part ofFebruary.

•Be a world-famous author. Send inyour articles to the AMICA Bulletin ...we'd love to publish them.

*

Ampico 204341

QRS 8187

"When It's Night-Time in Italy, It's Wednesday Over Here",Jeff Wisn ia contri butor

"A Huggin' and A Chaikin',Here are some sample verses:I gotta gal that's mighty sweet,With big blue eyes and tiny feet.Her name is Rosa Belle McGee,And she tips the scale at three-a-three,Ohl Gee but ain't it grandTo have a girl so big and fat thatWhen you go to hug 'er you don't know where you're at.You have to take a piece of chalk in your handand hug away and chalk a markTo see where you began.One day I was a huggin' and a chaikin' and a huggin' awayWhen I met another fella with some chalk in his handComin' around the other way...

Page Twenty Six

Ampico and Duo-ArtAmpico and Welte (Licensee)Ampico and WelteAmpico and Angelus-ArtrioAmpico and RecordoAmpico and Art-Echo (Apollo)Ampico and Duo-Art and Welte (Licensee)Ampico and Duo-Art and WelteAmpico and Duo-Art and Art-EchoAmpico and Duo-Art and RecordoAmpico and Duo-Art and Solo CarolaAmpico and Welte (Licensee) and WelteAmpico and Welte (Licensee) and RecordoAmpico and Art-Echo and RecordoAmpico and Duo-Art and Welte and Angelus-ArtrioAmpico and Duo-Art and Welte and Hupfeld DeaAmpico and Duo-Art and Art-Echo and Solo CarolaDuo-Art and Welte (Licensee)Duo-Art and WelteDuo-Art and Angelus-ArtrioDuo-Art and RecordoWelte (Licensee) and WelteWelte (Licensee) and Recordo and Art-EchoWelte (Licensee) and Angelus-Artrio and Art-Echo

Of the 376 Ampicos owned, 57(or 15%) are Model B's.

Most AMICA members are verydevoted to their hobby and a greatpercentage of them are genuinelyinterested in music and convincedreproducing pianos do what theirname implies. It is interesting to notehow many different systems somemembers own and in what

~ combinations:

No. of Members

6645152

1031211111114211211

Ninety-three members own twosystems; twenty-two members ownthree systems; seven members ownfour systems. The Club has about 700members.

In an effort to set up some kindof standard for members to go bywhen listing their pianos for the roster,here are some examples:

1920 Steinway Duo-Art 6'2" Grand(Style X R), Serial No. 204043,Contemporary Case, Mahogany

1924 Knabe Ampico 6'4" Grand(Style B), Serial No. 97272, Louis XVCase, French Walnut

1936 Fischer Ampico 37" Spinet(Style 31G), Serial No. 171909, ArtCase, Mahogany

Owning

I would like to apologize to theowners of nickelodeons, player pianos,etc., for not including theirinstruments in the census analogy. I'llleave that task to a member \(\tho ismore knowledgeable about them.

P.S. It might be interesting toAMICAns to know that in my smallKansas town of about 15,000population (pop. relatively unchangedsince the 1920's) I know of 25reproducing pianos that were here inthe heyday including Ampicos,Duo-Arts, 1 Welte (Licensee), 1Art-Echo, 1 Recordo, and 1Artrio-Angelus. Of these, only threeare still here intact. Nearly all theothers have been gutted.

***

MORE LETTERS

... Does anyone have any of thefollowing Ampico rolls with originallabel?

2823 THE 0 L D 0 A KENBUCKET; 2. LISTEN TOTH E MOCKINGBIRD; 3.WE NEVER SPEAK AS WEPASS BY pb McCormack

70573 BLUE DANUBE Fox-trotarrangement pb Arden &Carroll

70801 UNDER HER WINDOWBlazejowicz pb Loth

100435 FOX-TROT MEDLEY NO.2: 1. CRYIN' FOR· THECAROLINES; 2. HAVE ALITTLE FAITH IN ME; 3.SHOULD I?; 4. HAPPYDAYS ARE HERE AGAINpb Arden & Carroll

100715 FOX-TROT MEDLEY NO.10: 1. W HEN YOU RLOVER HAS GONE; 2.YOU SAID IT; 3. THEKING'S HORSES; 4.WHERE HAVE YOUBEEN? pb Arden & Carroll

100735 1. THE SECOND MINUETBesly; 2. ADORATIONBorowski; 3. COUNTRYDANCE Nevin; 4. FLOODSOF SPRING Rachmaninoffpb Suskind

100745 FOX-TROT MEDLEY NO.12: 1. HELP YOURSELFTO HAPPINESS; 2.DANCING IN THE DARK;3. I WANNA SING ABOUTYOU; 4. DO THE NEWYORK pb Arden & Carroll

For a forthcoming article I need toknow just one th ing about these rolls:is there or is there not a D to the leftof the roll number on the box label?(Airmail to Japan takes 21c stamp.)

Vernon BrownMinami Aoyama 4..8..24Minato-ku, Tokyo 107Japan

Page Twenty Seven

TEXAS CHAPTER NEWS

DECEMBER

The weather played a dirty trickand foiled the Texas Chapter's plansfor its December meeting in OklahomaCity hosted by the Stan Whitehursts.By midmorning Sunday, December 10,Dallas streets were under a glaze ofsnow and ice, trapping those of us whohad planned to drive up that morning.Members who had gone to Oklahomaearlier met as planned, and theyreported an interesting and fungathering.

Again,_ our thanks to theWhitehursts. We all hope to have achance in the future to schedule ameeting in Oklahoma.

FEBRUARY

Luck was with us the secondSunday in February. The weather wasbeautiful, and a good crowd attendedthe meeting at my home in Dallas.Despite an ailing Ampico, resulting ina somewhat agitated host for the fi rst ·hour or so, everyone had an enjoyabletime visiting and catching up on eventssince our last full gathering in October.

Fortunately, the eagle eye of oneof our local Ampico experts spottedthe trouble with the Ampico airmotor; soon it was "up and running"again. With that problem solved, wewere treated to a performance of BillFlynt's newest Ampico arrangements.They're greatI

Due to the amount of business tobe covered, no other program waspresented. Election of ChapterOfficers had. been delayed fromDecember, and the possibility of a1973 AMICA Convention in Texasneeded to be settled...~

Contributed by Austen Graham, Edi/nburgh, Scotland

AMICA Pins, $4.25, including mailingcharges. Sterling silver lapel pin or tietack with AMICA design.

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*

Steve Chapman - PresidentCharlie Johnson - Vice-PresidentHilda Chapman - Secretary-TreasurerJim Meadows - Reporter

The proposal that the TexasChapter host a 1973 convention waspresented. The pros and cons wereaired in an open discussion ending ingeneral agreement that we would liketo host a cOl1vention. Charlie Johnsonwill head the convention committee toformulate plans. We'll all be hearingfrom him in the near future.

APRIL

Plan now to attend our nextmeeting on April 8. Ruth BingamanSmith will be our hostess in the homeof Doyle Cassell and Charlie Johnson.Doyle has a Welte Original and Charliea Fisher Ampico A. A meeting with aWelte piano and Mme. Smith, a Welterecording artist, will be a TexasChapter first.

The April meeting will be oursecond anniversary meeting, and I hearrumors of a Texas-size celebrationbeing planned.

The election proceeded smoothlyand the following slate of officers waselected:

Be a world-famous author. Send inyour articles to the AMICA Bulletin ...we'd love to publish them.

*

,1

On 1y to m ~ k e a shatteri.ngdiscovery-the plano was too WIdeto get round the sharp bend in thelobby!

Chris was up to high doh \vhenAnnette arrived to find her househad no front door, no parlourwindow;....,.;and a grand piano. wedgedin the lobby.

When a woebegone Chrisexplained t Annette ha<J to chuckle.It \vould indeed have been -a lovelypresent.

But there was nothjng els'e fOlit but to humph the piano on to thelorry and. back to the saleroom.

It's still there-waiting for someone \vith a grand-sized home to buyit.

P.S.-Chris has bought anotherpiano for Annette. An ordinary onethat went through the door andlobby nae bother.

Robert Lemon4560 Green Tree DriveSacramento, CA 95823

IT WAS TO BESUCH A LOVELY

GIFT FOR HIS WIFECHRIS MARLOWE (23), 52

George Street, Cellardyke,Fife, saw a snlashing Liberacestyle grand .piano in a saleroom in Leven.

A lovely present for his \vife,Annette!

Chris a r ran g e d to have itdelivered \vhen ·she was out.

He decided the best way to getthe piano into the house \vould be toscrevv the legs off and lift it side\vays through the parlour window.

In preparation, he took the\vindow out.

Alas, Chris and the delivery menfound the piano was a Inite too wideto go through the space.

Nothing daunted, _Chris sent fora joiner, who prised off lintel and\vooden franles around the sides ofthe· window. .

The joiner helped lift the piano inthe second atten1pt.

No go. The \vindo\v was still toonarrow.

U Right, Jet's taKe it through thedoor," said C,}'Jris.

So the joiner took the door offthe hinges.

MEANTIME, Chris had called inthree of his pals to help.

Neighbours looked on with batedbreath as the seven .men gingerlysteered the piano through the door\vay.

" To n1e . • . lOyOll •.• • Easy asyou go ..."

Eureka! They n1ade it--..;.after threehours of try-try-trying again.

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