Back in the late 1970s or early 80s I was in Joseph Tushinsky's home
in the Los Angeles area. He showed me the Vorsetzer he owned and
explained that it had been built by some people employed by him.
Tushinsky purchased from me a Welte License grand piano with a roll
changer cabinet, unrestored. He had it restored and kept it in his
office at Sony Superscope. He also purchased from me some of my
collection of Welte "Red" rolls. I owned at one time a "Red" Welte
Vorsetzer.
Gerald Stonehill, of London, England, has been friends with me since
back in the late 1960s. He helped me procure most of my "Red" Welte
roll collection out of England back in those days. I also purchased
several Duo-Art reproducing grands from Gerald back in the 1960s.
I still communicate with Gerald via email nowadays. We used to
communicate via tape recordings. I still possess most of the tapes
from Gerald.
Anyway, the Duo-Art "Robot" was strictly an invention of his and Gordon
Iles, formerly with Aeolian Corp. of London. Iles is now deceased.
Ellsworth Johnson
Spokane, Washington
P.S. If you own any of Dave Bowers' books, such as "A Guidebook of
Automatic Musical Instruments" (2 vol. set), you will see numerous
photos of player grands that I owned and restored. One photo has me
seated in front of a Duo-Art Steinway grand.
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