Hello, I have a Kohler & Campbell 44 note player. The tracker looks
like a Duo-Art but the action includes only an accent mechanism, not a
full expression bellows. The front of the case is decorated with an
oriental painting and the remaining parts have cracked, peeling black
paint.
It appears that the secondaries have new rubberized fabric and that the
tubing has been replaced but quite a bit of work also remains before it
will be operational. The pump bellows are motor driven. A similar
piano (without the oriental painting) is shown on page 248 of Harvey
Roehl's "Player Piano Treasury".
I have several questions:
1) Are any readers familiar with this instrument? If so do you know
if it originally included a full expression mechanism? I can't
find any location where one might be missing.
2) Was the oriental painting part of the original production or was
it a decoration added by a prior owner?
3) What is the preferred approach to case restoration with an interest
if preserving the instrument's value. Should I strip and re-do the
black paint or leave it as is? Should I touch-up small areas of
the oriental painting or just leave it as is?
4) What is the preferred approach, again to preserve value, regarding
the non-player part of the piano action. Should I replace the
hammers, dampers, bridal straps, keytops and other action parts as
needed or try to work only with what is there?
5) How many similar pianos were built?
6) Do you know of any recent sales of such a piano to help me in
determining its value?
Thanks,
Bill Wetzel
Middletown, N.J.
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