Roger Waring asked about a Hupfeld 73/88-note Solophonola in a Roenisch
grand.  With several German experts now writing in the Digest I hesi-
tate to contribute, but the late British collector Benet Meakin had
quite a lot to say about the Solophonola.  As far as I recall:-

The Phonola was, like the Pianola, originally a pedalled Vorsetzer or
push-up player which used 65-note rolls.  The 73-note version, like a baby
crocodile, was born fully-developed, probably in early 1901, with the
"theme" holes in the middle as Roger describes; and it was the first
"theme" system on the market.  At that time the theme system was styled
"Solodant" and -- as on other European players that adopted the system
and certainly those Standard and Higel systems that were marketed in
Europe -- the subduing of the treble or bass notes was to a fixed
degree, actuated using buttons.  In about 1906 sliding levers producing
a graduated accompaniment power were introduced.

At the time much horse-trading was going on with Melville Clark of
Apollo and the Aeolian Company in New York, and a series of inter-
linking licences were negotiated that enabled all three parties (and
I dare say others) to share:

a) The existing 9 notes-per-inch 88-note standard (Apollo 1905;
since 1899 they a 6 notes-per-inch version using a wide roll, really
a stretched 65n piano)

b) Theme (Hupfeld 1901) (* see footnote)

c) Graduated treble and bass subduing (Aeolian 1899)

These agreements blossomed into the world-wide 88-note standard agreed
upon at the Buffalo Conventions of 1908 and 1909, but by that time
Aeolian and Hupfeld had already settled the 88-note theme standards.

Hupfeld began producing 73/88-note dual standard players for Germany
and Holland, and 88-note for elsewhere, simultaneously in 1907 with
Aeolian's 88-note.  Hupfeld they called theirs 'Solophonola' and
Aeolian called its 88n-with-theme 'Themodist' (Aeolian did make
non-theme instruments in the USA, but not in Europe.)  I believe
instruments catering for 73 notes continued to be made until the late
1920s, and the rolls until the mid-1930s.

So Solophonola, unlike Phonola, always had graduated subduing, using
levers.  It is almost identical to Themodist except that the subduing
levers work a different way round.  The name, of course, prefigures
Duophonola and Triphonola, which were a foot-pumped and electrically
driven (respectively) reproducing system, based on the Hupfeld DEA and
launched in 1918, which was compatible with full 88-note and so enabled
standard rolls to be pedalled as well.

Strangely, the name Solophonola was never used on roll labels, all
Hupfeld 88n rolls being themed (except for a very few right at the
start) and labelled 'Ludwig Hupfeld', or, after 1920, 'Animatic'.
There was an affinity with the Clavitist cafe piano, about which I know
nothing except that the rolls are in a Hupfeld 40000 series !

The mass-production ethic never reached Hupfeld, and while Aeolian's
pre-1932 instruments are at worst solid and respectable, Hupfeld's are
consistently beautifully made.  Hupfeld fitted player actions in its
own pianos, the Roenisch and the Bluethner, and all of them I have seen
are collectors' pieces.  Roger is very lucky to have such a find --
although only player aficionados are likely to appreciate its full
beauty.  He should be able to find 73-note rolls for it in Holland and
Germany.

* Footnote --

For new readers of MMD, "theme" means a means of getting the roll to
provide extremely crisp accentuation of chosen notes, such as the
melody and emphasized notes in the bass, by providing additional
perforations in the roll which, coupled with the use of subduing
controls by the operator (the pianolist or phonolist !), produce sharp
blips of suction in the treble and/or bass halves of the stack and so
produce additional power in the notes starting at those instants.

The accenting blip can be as short as 1/8 of a second, enabling
particular notes in a chord to be advanced or retarded that amount and
so be brought out relative to the others.  In some rare systems though,
like the Kastonome or the Solo Carola, no advance or delay is necessary
as the notes are chosen individually by the accentuation system.

Dan Wilson, London