Hi -- I recently acquired an Aeolian Weber 88-note player piano.  It
was one of those "come and take it away or we'll burn it" arrangements.
There were two boxes of rolls, too.

Two unusual things I need help with.  First, the key coverings are of
one piece, rounding down over the front edges, something I've never
encountered on a piano before.  Celluloid appears to be the covering
material.  I have seen this effect on electronic organs.  Is this a
one-off or does anyone else know of anything similar?

Secondly, it has trigger trackers.  Nothing unusual there, but in
the centre of the tracker bar there are 16 pairs of vertical slots
positioned above the note holes: the first pair are above note 30,
and then above every other hole 'till note 60.

I have only encountered this on about four other players in 35 years.
They all have been Aeolian players.  It has been suggested that this
was some experimental type of tracking system that was never actually
used.  Indeed, the nipples in this player and the others were not
connected to anything.

My guess is that it would have detected the alignment of the
perforations in a music roll, providing that something was playing
in that part of the roll.  If the centre section of the roll was silent
then it would just trust to luck to remain in track.  Am I right or
wrong?  Perhaps someone in the MMD knows better; I would appreciate
your comments.

Paul Camps

 [ Maybe the tracker bars were built for a special centering system
 [ which was never produced.  Was the player action made in UK?
 [ -- Robbie