Player Piano Group instrument listing
On the subject of instrument listings, the 1998 Player Piano Group
listing has just been completed. I thought a few statistics might be
of interest. From perhaps 200 listed collections, mostly UK with a few
scattered round Europe and some in Australia, there are the following
reproducing pianos:
Ampico: 37 (all but 1 are Model A)
2 Boesendorfer (grands)
2 Broadwood (1 grand, 1 upright)
1 each of Chickering, Erard, Fisher, Foster
2 Franklin (1 upright, 1 grand)
1 Gaveau (grand)
4 Grotrian-Steinweg (grand)
2 Knabe (grand)
2 Marshall & Rose (1 upright, 1 grand)
5 Marshall & Wendell (4 upright, 1 grand)
1 Mason & Hamlin (grand)
9 Rogers (2 upright, 7 grand)
1 Weber (a converted grand)
Duo-Art: 126 (38 pedal-only, 17 electric-only, 70 pedal-electric)
7 Aeolian (uprights)
1 Ibach (upright)
55 Steck (7 Gotha, 1 American, rest UK) (49 upright, 6 grand)
23 Steinway (7 upright, 15 grand)
40 Weber (32 upright, 8 grand)
Welte-Mignon: 12 (5 Red, 2 Green, 5 Licensee)
1 Bechstein (upright)
2 Feurich (grands)
1 Rushworth & Dreaper (upright)
1 Steck (a converted Gotha upright)
3 Steinway (2 upright, 1 grand)
4 Waddington (uprights)
Interesting stuff! You really can see how much Aeolian dominated the
UK market, particularly with the ubiquitous Steck upright. Even if the
pedal-only Duo-Arts are excluded, on the grounds they amount to little
more than 88-note players, it's still Ampico 37, Duo-Art 87. I would
guess if anything this over-estimates Ampico's market presence, because
collectors target them while Duo-Arts more commonly 'turn up'.
If I have time, I'll try to do a breakdown of the pedal players next.
Julian Dyer
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