Hello MMD readers,  While reading the daily articles on the topic of
mechanical musical instruments losing their public appeal or "costing
too much" for future collectors, two things come to mind.

First, pianos, organs and other roll playing instruments were never
inexpensive, the first time around.  If you compare automobiles, house
prices and pianos, for example, you'll see that the ratio remains
relatively the same over the decades.  One who could purchase a Dodge
Brothers automobile in the 1920s could have applied that same money to
an upscale player instrument.  If one bought a deluxe Packard auto,
then in many cases you could equate this with an Art Case 'reproducing'
piano.

(In 1950 my parents looked at a new 5'2" Baldwin grand but bought a
used, rebuilt 1927 piano for me; they purchased instead a straight-8
Pontiac sedan at that time.  I auditioned a new 7' Mason & Hamlin
in 1997, but used my estate money instead for buying a Volkswagen
Winnebago Eurovan Camper, a few years ago, at almost the same price.)

Second, the dreary old roll libraries are what hold back many potential
customers in this field.  There are too many 'background music' and
'hammy' classical rolls (especially for the Ampico, in my opinion),
while many Aeolian Duo-Art expression rolls "stood on the sustaining
pedal" far too long for my musical taste.

I just received a letter from a foreign country.  The writer bought two
Artcraft rolls, and -- after a few months of playing them daily and
experimenting with different interpretations due to the detail in the
perforation lengths -- wrote back, saying that he was going to sell off
his 400 old rolls, and 'invest' in mine, in a series of monthly orders.
"My wife and I will have to be content, playing your two rolls, since
the old ones are too repetitious and boring by comparison."

This might be an extreme case, but consider how much 'better' a
Wurlitzer orchestrion would sound with more imaginative rolls?
Suppose old rolls were re-mastered to improve the 'striking' effects?
My releases of New 'Castle House' Medley, New 'King Of Ragtime', New
'Pink Tea Fox Trot' And 'Hot' Ragtime Song Medley are all examples of
keeping the old (arrangement) while improving the perforation lengths,
adding a superior sustaining pedal and/or improving the expression,
when it existed.  These rolls have continuously sold since they were
introduced to the marketplace.

These are not new points, coming from me.  I have been saying "better
arrangements" for decades, but the focus seemed to remain on the
machines and not the software, viz. the rolls.  It was like talking
about turntables and stylii but never discussing the phonograph
records being played.

Highlights from the past, can be experienced, as original rolls or
recuts, even without my re-mastering activities.  The late Paramount
rolls by Rudy Erlebach deserve a second look.  The 1924-1928 QRS
Recordo arrangements by Max Kortlander (sometimes under other names,
real and pseudonym) often sparkle.  Howard Lutter's brown box
Welte Licensee rolls, for the final seven years of that operation,
are generally stellar.  Select Mel-O-Dee and Capitol/Supertone rolls,
with staccato effects, can be exciting for the public even today.

What are not needed are arrangements which repeat 100%, overlap the
staccato (as on Ampico rolls from the Amphion era or QRS 'Blue Bird
Ballad' days), overdo the sustaining pedal, and/or present dreary
melodies.  A Perfect Day, Somewhere A Voice Is Calling, Alice Blue Gown
and tremolo arrangements, like Hawaiian Breezes on Vocalstyle, might
have had a market in their era, but now they are deadly rolls for
attracting new people to the player piano.

Finally, tied-triplet arranging, the curse of Imperial Industrial Co.
(QRS) days, with J. L. Cook presiding, should not be used for jazz or
'swing' music.  When I worked briefly for Max Kortlander, I was told
that tied-triplet was "what the public liked".  Bunk!  It was cheaper,
since there were no duple/triple meter scales, as on a Leabarjan
perforator.  Roll after roll of fake jazz rhythm (4 + 2 punches = 6,
for one beat) should have been 4-1/2 + 1-1/2 punches.  You'll find that
the better old rolls, usually not by QRS in the 1930s, did after all
have the correct rhythm which leads to snappy syncopation.

The instruments which have new/old libraries that are exciting to hear
today are the ones that will survive, since they will be worth the
rebuilding costs.

Regards,
Douglas Henderson - Artcraft Music Rolls
Wiscasset, Maine
http://wiscasset.nnei.net/artcraft/