Hi Robbie,  In reference to Bryan Cather's question about the Unisolo
rolls [991126 MMDigest], this was a subsidiary brand of the Republic
Player Roll Company, which was located in New York City.  I don't know
the exact history behind this concern, but I can report on what has
become clear after some collecting and study.

The outfit apparently started producing 88-note piano rolls around
1919, and this part of the business lasted only a few years.  I believe
that the "big name" Ampico stars, like Adam Carroll, J. Milton Delcamp
and Frank Black, all had their piano-roll debut on either the Republic
label or one of the cheaper subsidiary brands they issued.

Around 1920 or 1921 the name of the firm was apparently changed to the
DeLuxe Music Roll Corporation.  They manufactured the Welte Licensee
rolls, with the characteristic top hat brown boxes, and either "Welte
Mignon" or "DeLuxe" printed in gold on the labels.  Production of
88-note rolls seems to have stopped shortly after the firm got into
manufacturing rolls for the Welte reproducing piano system.

The Republic roll labels come in two types, each having a liberty bell
design at top.  One label is completely brown, the other is black
bordered with the liberty bell design in red.   The Republic subsidiary
brands which I've seen are Unisolo (as Bryan mentioned), DeLuxe (this
being NOT the Welte issues, but another 88-note roll label of different
design), and Superior.  The Unisolo and especially the Superior labels
are very scarce today.

Republic rolls sold at one dollar each, whereas the DeLuxe, Unisolo
and Superior rolls were fifty or sixty cents.  I've not been able to
compare enough rolls side-by-side (i.e. Republic vs. the cheaper
labels) to tell whether or not they actually abbreviated the music.
Chances are they did not, and that the music of subsidiary labels is
identical to the corresponding Republic issues.   That is, assuming
that all titles were issued on all labels.

Connorized issued their identical 88-note rolls on the cheaper Dominant
label, and these seem to all be the same masters.  It is likely that
Republic used somewhat cheaper paper on the other labels.  The boxes
are definitely of lesser quality.

In addition to Carroll, Delcamp and Black, a number of other personal-
ities appeared on the Republic series of 88-note rolls.  These include
songwriters like Clarence Gaskill and Charley Shisler, and jazz great
Adrian Rollini.  Even the great songwriter Maceo Pinkard's name is
credited on a Republic roll or two.  Blues and rags issued on the
Republic labels are uniformly outstanding, and many of their pop song
arrangements can rival other labels as QRS.

The Carroll/Delcamp/Black presence together at the Republic roll shop
in the days just following WW1 probably was the single most decisive
factor in determining the smooth and classy "Ampico sound" which
developed later.

Frank Himpsl

 [ Thanks for the informative history, Frank.  I've placed your article 
 [ and the Unisolo label image at the MMD Music Media site, on the new 
 [ page for Republic: http://mmd.foxtail.com/MMMedia/Republic/index.html
 [ Can anyone contribute images of the other Republic labels?
 [ -- Robbie