Babs Cannon asks about problems she might encounter in retro-fitting
a player piano with a rank of pipes. She suspects that player rolls
might not be designed to make pipes sound musically correct.
I do recall that Wurlitzer had to adapt its APP roll arrangements
slightly to use them on its Caliola rolls. (APP rolls play pianos;
Caliolas are pure pipe instruments). The string-based piano had a
natural sustain built into the instrument, whereas a pipe ceases
speaking immediately as the wind supply is cut off. I don't know how
much difference this factor makes, musically speaking. But I bet you
could get at least fair results out of playing an APP roll on a
Caliola.
I wouldn't think you would need "tons of wind" to blow a single rank of
pipes connected to the treble section of your piano and blown at fairly
low pressure.
I'd be more concerned about where you tee off the pneumatics for the
pipe rank and whether the pressure differentials at the place of teeing
are sufficient to operate new primaries and secondaries for the pipes,
without degrading the operation of the piano primaries or secondaries.
You may have to experiment to find out, trying the teeing with just one
or two notes.
Matthew Caulfield
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