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I am writing about my Duo-Art piano being played by digital rolls
stored on a laptop computer. The saga of my Duo-Art will follow this
story of latest improvement in my machine.  I have come to love the
Duo-Art and piano music in general.  (I went to see Lang Lang play
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony
a couple of weeks ago.  Wow!)

A real problem has been the rolls.  Finding them, storing them,
maintaining the condition of them (sitting like a worried mother over
my Gershwin rolls as they rewind), and getting up to change them.
These problems no longer exist for me since Spencer Chase installed
his eroll system in my piano.

Now let me first say that I am a condition freak.  I collect books and
Victorian antiques and love everything to be original.  I don't like
my kerosene lamps wired.  I don't like Phillips head screws in my 1891
door hinges.  I did not want in any way to mar my piano or have
something obviously new replacing old original parts.

Other than a laptop computer that I can hide, my piano is 1927
original.  The operating end is a series of little electric valves all
of which sit on top of a two-inch piece of cherry wood hidden up behind
the foot pedals.  They are controlled by the computer and connected to
my tubing so that they may control the piano as if a roll were playing.

Now I have nearly 2000 rolls at my fingertips and they will play
continuously (the only limitation is the motor heating up after
continuous playing).  No tracking errors, just perfect playing.  The
screen displays a simulated tracker bar during playing and you can
watch the electronic perforations scroll across the screen as it plays.
It also displays the technical information such as sustain, vacuum
levels, and levels in the theme and accompaniment.  If you love your
Duo-Art this is a 'must have'.  Ask Spencer the technical questions.
You can contact him at <spencer@spencerserolls.com>

Now the story of my piano.  About 1927 my great-grandmother had the
money and good taste to buy a Steinway grand Duo-Art from Sherman and
Clay in San Francisco.  It is a beautiful mission style made with
gorgeous grained wood.  The piano passed into the hands of my grandmother
in the late 1940's and sat in her living room for 50 years.  I remember
her demonstrating the player for me in the 1950's when I was a child
but as years went on the player stopped working.

My grandmother was fond of playing the piano and used the piano
conventionally.  About 1970 she had a tuner come to tune the piano.
He asked to buy it and when she said no he proceeded to tell her he
could make the piano sound better if he took out the old player parts.
My grandmother was a great lady but had no appreciation for the many
beautiful things she inherited.  She allowed him to gut the piano and
was going to give him the parts.

During the disemboweling she happened to call my mother and tell her
what was happening and asked if she should give the parts to the tuner.
By a stroke of luck I happened to be at home and when presented with
the question told her to have the parts put in the basement.  There
they sat for 25 years in a pile.

Meanwhile I became a dentist and came to live in the house.  One of
my patients has an upright Steinway Duo-Art and somehow we got on the
subject.  He told me he could probably put the piano back together and
over the next year did just that, carefully restoring the pneumatics
and putting everything in the right place without any sort of plans.
He should have been a dentist with the precision work he did.

One day I came home from the office and there was a note on the piano
with instructions and a roll already mounted.  I flicked the switches
and the piano fired up.  It brought tears to my eyes. After the many
years and near destruction, it was playing again.  I called my
grandmother who was living outside the house and had the piano playing
in the background.  I asked her if she knew what was playing and she
said she didn't know the song!  I told her that it was the player,
playing again.  I was so happy to have her live long enough to hear
the piano again.

As the caretaker of the Duo-Art I continued to improve the machine.
I recently had the action rebuilt and the 1927 strings replaced.
It is magnificent!  The piano sparkles and with the computer playing
it, it is a real joy to own.

Tom Jacobs
San Rafael, California