What companies made pianos with themodist-type actions - that is to say,
actions which use 'snakebite' marginal perforations to activate an
expression mechanism to subdue the music's accompaniment and bring out
the theme? I use the term themodist in a generic sense, rather than
Themodist as the Aeolian trade name.

This question was prompted by a piano that some friends purchased a few
years ago. It was a British stencil (i.e. anonymous) piano fitted with
an American Standard action. Nothing odd there, but there was something
I didn't expect - it was fitted with a themodist-type action. I always
had the impression themodist was not as widespread in America as here in
the UK, yet if Standard made it should be themodist pianos everywhere.
So, was this particular player action a special type made for the UK, or
what?

The way the mechanism had been fitted was as separate bass and treble
regulators, fixed to the wind trunk that runs across the bottom action
below the keybed. Each had a valve to block off the direct exhaust path
and so force the air through the regulator. A theme valve then
momentarily bypassed the regulator when a theme perforation was opened.
The level of subduing obviously was independently set for bass and
treble sides of the stack.

The obvious makers of themodist-type actions were: Aeolian (worldwide),
Angelus (USA), Hupfeld (Germany). There were lots of other European
manufacturers. Here in the UK it is probably true to say that 80% (or
more) of players owned by enthusiasts are themodist. I've only seen one
non-themodist Aeolian - they had even filled the theme holes in the
tracker with little fillets of brass!

Roll arrangers - following the discussions about the use of pedal versus
note extension, how about considering adding theming for those of us who
can use it? It really lifts a performance.

Julian Dyer