Otto Higel Player Action
By Colin Hinz
> From: Robert & Sonja Lemon <rslemon@pacbell.net>
> Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 14:10:01 -0800
> Subject: Re: Epoxyed Tracker Bar
>
> We don't recall ever seeing a tracker bar with theme holes AND tracker
> holes. It sounds like you may have an Angelus action, possible a late
> model. We have Angelus and Aeolian bars with theme holes and sustain
> holes. Neither are transposing. The Angelus bar is a short bar which
> is normally mounted on brass pedestals. The Aeolian is standard length.
> Hope this answers some of your questions. If you need one E-Mail us.
Sorry for a tardy response, but is there a 'misprint' in the first statement?
[ I think Bob Lemon means "tracking holes", to operate the paper guidance
[ system. I have a weird (European?) tracker bar with holes for the
[ snakebite theme accents plus one hole at each edge of the paper,
[ presumably for the tracking (guidance) system. -- Robbie
I have a Solodant (aka Themodist, more or less) 88-note player, with action (both player and piano, but not the frame, cabinet, etc. -- i.e. the 'heavy stuff'!) made by the Otto Higel Co. of Toronto, Canada. The tracker bar has expression holes, sustain and tracker holes.
The stack is the Metalnola "metal unit" type which is shown (and pooh-pooh'ed) in Reblitz. It is the double valve type, not the single valve Metalnola shown in Ord-Hume's PIANOLA. But I digress...
As an aside, is there anyone out there who knows where the Otto Higel Co. was based? Toronto? New York? London? And where were the manufacturing plants? All three places? Or not...? Are there any 'experts' on this obscure action?
Good thing I've joined both AMICA and MBSI. It looks like I'll need the information resources these organizations provide.
Colin Hinz (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
* ASFi Music Works * asfi@interlog.com * (416) 516-8686 *
[ Editors note:
[
[ The confusion of the terms above would be funny but for the
[ frustration of the authors! Could someone please confirm these
[ "Tracker Bar" terms for me:
[
[ tracker holes: all the holes in the tracker bar
[ playing note holes: operate the note pneumatics
[ control holes: anything except the playing note holes
[ pedal holes: Loud (sustaining) and Soft Pedal pneumatics
[ tracking holes: operate the tracking (paper alignment) system
[ transport control holes: rewind, shut-off, replay, nickel trip, etc.
[ intensity and expression holes: dependent on the expression system
[
[ By good timing (!) the answers to your questions about Otto Higel
[ player actions also appear tonight. See below. :)
[
[ Robbie Rhodes |
(Message sent Wed 15 Jan 1997, 22:28:25 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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