Date Codes on Piano Rolls
By Rick Inzero
Hooray! My player's in tune! It sounds a _whole lot_ different now, very rich and nice.
I just had Alan Mueller over to tune my piano and check out the player mechanism's health. Being new to this, I had no idea if it was okay or on its last legs. I was relieved to find that it's in good shape, and I _won't_ have a 6-month pneumatic covering hobby anytime soon! While he tuned it I fixed a dead note (2 screws had fallen out of the pneumatic's linkage) and went over every single pneumatic, checking for pinholes. I fixed a few I found with GE silicone rubber. After that, and tightening all the stack screws, and lubrication, it works like new -- why, even the dog can pump it! :-)
Thanks for all the advice on the tracker bar pump. I need to get a new filter from Player Piano Co. then I'm all set. In the meantime, I successfully put a small diameter hose onto the household vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the tracker bar.
After I got the air motor installed last week, I went out and picked up 40 or so antique rolls, from the 1920s-1960s. (I sorted thru maybe 400 rolls over a lunch hour to select these!) While Alan was there he played a few, and told me something I didn't know (and maybe others don't know), so I thought I'd pass it on.
Here it is: many manufacturers used a date code on the rolls, box labels, or both. I have some old QRS, Ideal, and other rolls with a three or 4 digit date code, e.g. 1232 means Dec, 1932. 323 would be March, 1923. On the box label, it's usually printed in smaller and thinner typeface than the other information. On the rolls, it may appear at the beginning or end.
Is this date code the date the master roll was recorded or cut, or the date the COPY was produced (like the Dec, 1932 run of a song originally recorded in 1930), or something else? Back in the "old days", did rolls continue production over several years, like QRS does today, or were their production runs short lived 1-time events?
[ Usually it's the date the song was first issued. The master might
[ lay about for months, awaiting the editor's inspiration. The labels
[ were printed when the first production rolls were punched and placed
[ in boxes. -- Robbie
Rick Inzero, Northern Telecom, Inc., Rochester, NY rdi@cci.com
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(Message sent Fri 13 Dec 1996, 15:34:46 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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