Books by William Braid White
By Dave Saul
I'd like to respond to a comment in the 2 Feb. Digest by Richard Vance:
> By the way, I have always wondered why Dr. Baird White's fine book on
> player piano servicing, the only independently written work of this
> kind that I know of published during the "era", has not been reprinted
> by the hobby. Does anybody out there know anything about this?
Is this a reference to Dr. William Braid White's book entitled "Piano Playing Mechanisms"? That work, originally published in 1925, was reprinted and copyrighted in a second edition by Tuners Supply, Inc. in 1953. It's more description-oriented than servicing-oriented, although there is a chapter on repair and maintenance.
(There is an interesting reference in the book's preface to a 1914 predecessor called "Player Piano Up To Date"; has anyone encountered that book, or might it even be the un-reprinted volume to which Richard Vance refers?)
"Piano Playing Mechanisms" was widely distributed until fairly recently, and was one of the many goodies dumped by Vestal Press when the new management took over. It was also in the catalogs of Schaff and Pacific Piano Supply a few years back, and was likely carried by other piano supply houses as well. A copy shouldn't be hard to find. That author's other well-known book is "Piano Tuning and Allied Arts", which does not deal with pneumatic mechanisms.
Dave Saul
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(Message sent Mon 3 Feb 1997, 20:21:37 GMT, from time zone GMT-0600.) |
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