Introduction
By Jim Cullen
-- [ From: James J. Cullen, Ph.D. * EMC.Ver #2.10P ] --
Hi There!
You have a new member in the group -- me! My name is Jim Cullen. My wife Carolyn and I live in Las Vegas, NV. By profession, I'm a retired geology professor and chemical engineer. Now, I trade stocks for a living. My hobbies include experimental aircraft (I'm a pilot and we're building a 4-seat Cozy Mark IV experimental), scuba diving, hiking -- especially in the desert -- and, oh yeah, automated musical instruments. I haven't been active in the hobby for about 10 years, but I ran across some comments about this group while surfing Usenet and Jody was kind enough to let me subscribe. I imagine constant exposure to the discussions will rekindle my interest. Very dangerous: yet another way to spend money. Sigh. Too many hobbies, too little life.
My first attempt to restore a player piano was in 1968, when I was an undergraduate at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. A local warehouse was overloaded with old pianos and said I could have one if I would come and pick it up. I have no idea what type it was, other than being an upright from the mid 1920's. So, my room-mates and I borrowed a dolly from the bottom of the music department's stage grand piano and we wheeled the player 7 miles through the hilly streets of Worcester, from the warehouse to our apartment. A newspaper photographer caught our stunt and captioned the photo "The Old Piano Roll Blues." I never did get the thing restored. It was left in the apartment when I moved out. For all I know, the thing still resides in the 4-room apartment above Notis Pizza. I've often wondered what happened to it?
In 1984, I purchased a spinet player with an American-Aeolean action -- the kind with the external plastic valves. I did a minor rebuild and managed to get the thing working very nicely. It resides in our rec- room and we occasionally play it today.
I have two projects that need attention in my workshop. One is a 65- note piano player from about 1895 and the other is a reed organ (ornate case, simple stack) from about 1880. The reed organ is in pieces and has been for at least 10 years. The player is about 75% restored. I bought the piano player from Mechanical Music Center, Inc. in Darien, CT back in 1985 (are they still in business?) for $400.00. The cabinet had sustained a lot of water damage but the stack seemed to be in good condition. Perhaps when the airplane is done, I can finish restoring it and get to work on the organ.
My dreams are twofold. Someday, I'd like to be able to afford a Regnia disk player. Many years ago, while caving (spelunking) with friends near Greenbrier, West Virginia, I heard a Regina play in the restaurant lobby of the Greenbrier Hotel. The unit used what must have been 36- inch (or larger -- they were huge!) disks and had a disk changer built into it that looked like it could handle about a dozen disks (forgive my lack of knowledge, please). I suspect that I'd have to mortgage my house to be able to afford one of those today, but the sound that issued forth! -- if I had been any higher, I'd have had to wear wings!
My other dream is to find an orchestrion that has been absolutely ravaged by time and bring it back to life; the more instruments, the better (with a limit -- my house has 8-foot ceilings!). The bigger the wreck, the better; I love challanges!
Enough for now. If any of you manage to make it to Las Vegas, give me a call (702) 254-8815. I know a good Mexican restaurant...
Best Wishes,
Jim Cullen |
(Message sent Thu 30 May 1996, 02:07:26 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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