Hi all.  I recently inspected a very unusual pump action player for a
customer, and wondered if anyone can offer more information about it:

Roenisch concert grand, 8 foot 6 inches, solid oak case in beautiful
condition.  Serial number found on underneath of case 49515.  Suggested
date 1920?  The frame has Ronisch name hollowed out as part of casting.

Fall is marked as follows, from left to right:
  Hupfeld  Solophonola  Ronisch

It does not appear to be a reproducing piano in the form of a Duo-Art
or Ampico.  It operates pretty much like a standard player, but just
in a very grand case.

The player has a dual 73/88-note tracker bar: upper is normal 88-note
with expression and sustain holes; lower is two sets of 34, with a run
of 5 in the centre that is separated from the main two blocks by a
small thin oblong hole at each end, similar to an 88-note expression
hole.  I could not detect the means by which one switches to 73 note
format.

The owner had some 65-note rolls but no 73-note rolls.  All very
strange.  I laid a 65-note roll over the bar but it was clearly out
of synch, and anyway what are the two small rectangular holes in the
middle of the tracker bar for?

There are no tracking sense holes: tracking is achieved manually
using a pointer attached to a geared wheel, on a scale of plus/minus
1, 2, or 3.  This moves the roll spool, not the trackerbar.

The player controls are housed in a mounting that swings up when in
use, otherwise being locked in place beneath the front of the keybed.
The pumping pedals are housed very neatly in the lyre casing, and tip
down for use.  The actual pumping bellows are housed in the main piano
case in horizontal fashion, out of sight, and are connected to the
pedals by vertical rods.  All extremely tidy.

There are the usual bass and treble expression levers, with sustain and
Solodant levers.  The Tempo lever also acts as the play/rewind (left is
0 tempo, right is rewind).

This is new to me, but seems pretty nifty.  I resolved a few small
problems with the player, and got it to play an 88 note quite
successfully.  The only real problem that I could not resolve was a
tendency for 20 or so notes in the treble to stay "on" when first
actuated.  This suggests blocked bleeds to me.

Questions for the group:

1. Is my diagnosis on the stuck notes correct, or is the problem
possibly associated with one of the controls, perhaps the Solodant
lever?

2. Is anyone familiar with this type of instrument?

3. What was a Solophonola?

4. When were 73 note rolls made, and for whom?

5. If it is circa 1910, what sort of value would be appropriate ?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Roger Waring
Solihull, England
Pianolas@dial.pipex.com

 [ Since MMDigest is constrained (for now) to the US-ASCII character
 [ set, the German name herein is spelled Roenisch, where 'oe'
 [ substitutes for the o-umlaut seen on the piano.  -- Robbie