Introduction
By John McClelland
A big Texas howdy to all (from a transplanted Aussie).
Some of you I've met, others I haven't. In any case I'm quite glad that there is a forum on the net to chat about our mutual avocation, in all its forms. A little background about myself:
I have been involved in player pianos and the like since 1979, when I bought a Shultz player (what a learning experience!). I went through the usual genesis of collecting all the 88note rolls in the western hemisphere, to specializing in ragtime, etc. Then I discovered reproducing pianos and obtained an George Steck Grand for far too much money, from too great a distance (Atlanta to Austin). I gave up the piano lessons, since I really didn't have the time, and then went through the same life cycle with the Duo-Art. At one time I had a piano with each of the major reproducing systems installed. I became interesed in the Welte Licensee in the mid-80's since no one seemed to care much about it. It also helped that I met Ken Caswell about that time, who has the best Licensee I've ever heard (also verified by others). Ken initiated me into the arcane lore of the Welte. I've been focused on that system ever since.
I currently have a 1913 Mason & Hamlin Upright Red Welte in a semi-art case, a 1920 5'10" Hardman Licensee (awaiting the eventual restoration) and a 1924 Mehlin Bros upright Licensee (restored and in need of the final tweaking to get it playing as it should).
I have been re-issusing Welte rolls since 1989, primarily through subscription. I choose some of the lesser known but historically significant rolls or artists and made a limited number of sets, usually no more than 20 or 30. The roll sets not only encompass the Licensee but also transcriptions from Green and Red Welte to Licensee. I attempt to put out a set every year to 18 months, but the time seems to be increasing as of late!
I've been working on a perforator for about the past 5 years and am at the point of having the punch head, the die, the punches and associated hardware complete. I have the software program written (courtesy of a friend) and now just need the time to do the electrical wiring and attach the motor to the crankshaft. I desgned the mechanism in such a fashion that a Red Welte punch and die set can be put in place of the 9 to the inch 100 channel American configuration. I am working on the manufacturing drawings of the Red punch and die set, and expect to have them finished this month; then off to the machine shop for the dreaded estimate of cost!
I'm interested in the OCR part of the discussion (although I've briefly perused them) and would welcome further discussion and insights as making an OCR roll reader. I understand Mike Ames has already done this for organ rolls.
Keep the comments and articles flowing. This is a great format and I look forward to contributing when I can. Best to all. John.
[ Editor's Note:
[
[ Welcome aboard.
[
[ There are two "Optical" things beging discussed right now. One is
[ related to reading the "holes" in rolls, and the other involves
[ reading the "words" from "word rolls". The issues involved with
[ reading the holes in rolls are principally involved with getting
[ enough pixles per square inch on the roll, and doing it accurately.
[ The image processing is actually pretty simple.
[
[ Mike Ames, David Wasson, and I have built two optical roll readers
[ that read only the holes. One has a "universal spool frame" and
[ can read any format rolls. Both have been successful, but are not
[ electrically fast enough to suit us. Wayne Stahnke is working on
[ a next generation roll scanner. Stay tuned...
[
[ Unlike extracting the holes from the image, Extracting the "words",
[ is another problem. Thats what Robbie Rhodes and others have been
[ talking about here recently. A lot of the problem stems from the
[ fact that the most common word roll "font" is "stencil" -- which
[ breaks the characters into pieces which are easily mistaken by
[ naive software as other characters. Consider the letter B, which
[ in stencil font looks very much like 13.
[
[ Jody
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(Message sent Wed 24 Jul 1996, 01:06:33 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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