Hi Group,

I asked Al Crise for the piano manufacturer and serial number of his
Solo-Art, and he sent the following:

    "I did what you said and this is what I found: 'Manufactured
    Expressly For Boggs & Buhl By The Haddorff Piano Company.'  Serial
    Number: 16951."

Boggs & Buhl would most likely be the dealer that sold the piano.

Haddorff Piano Company serial number 16951 would have been produced in
1906.  1906 started with serial number 13700, and 1907 with number
19000, according to "Pierce Piano Atlas, 10th Edition," which also
states:

    "Haddorff Piano Company, Controlled by Krakauer Bros., New York,
    established by Charles Haddorff, originally made at 55 Ethel St.,
    Rockford Ill., at one time was controlled by Conn.  Also made
    Clarendon & Bush & Gerts Pianos.  Present address 115 E. 138th St.,
    Bronx, New York, also made Temple, Brooks, Evans, Zellner.
    Manufacture discontinued after 1960."

The "1926 Presto Buyers Guide" has a lengthy listing:

    "Haddorff: The career of the Haddorff pianos is by many in the art-
    world regarded as phenomenal.  These famous instruments compass
    every form and attainment, including the Artistic Grands,
    Reproducing Pianos, Grand Reproducing Players, Player-pianos and
    uprights -- every phase of high-grade piano manufacture, and the
    name of Haddorffs is always the symbol of musical attainment.  The
    attainment of power in a piano's name is a matter of such complexity
    of elements that to describe  the way to that result in words is
    almost impossible.  Haddorff pianos have so long stood as
    representatives of fine achievement in pianos that to refer to the
    evenness of tone, the responsiveness of action, and the charm of
    expression possible to the performer, would be to repeat that with
    which the piano world is already familiar.  Haddorff pianos are
    recognized as models of piano artistry.  They are instruments whose
    workings out have been, as is always the case with ambitious
    instruments, gradual and progressive through the years.  The
    Haddorff scale is so finely shaded and its tonal results so
    graduated, that there is no ear so acute as to detect where the
    dividing lines occur.  And that is one of the triumphs of the scale
    draughtsman's work.  It is the work of a master acoustician whose
    entire life has been devoted to piano development and the finest
    attainment of inborn skill and experience has found culmination in
    the instruments that bear his name.  Mr. C. A. Haddorff designed and
    created the first Haddorff piano.  He is still the active and very
    fertile head of the factories of the Haddorff Piano Co., at
    Rockford, Ill.  The Haddorff sounding hoard is scientifically
    constructed with a view to obtaining the greatest resonance without
    in the least interfering with the clarity of tone and quality of
    tone power.  Haddorff pianos are the results of the best materials
    so carefully treated and adjusted and so finely finished in external
    and internal details that there is only reason for approval by the
    most critical.  And this applies also to durability, giving to these
    instruments everything that the discriminating piano lover must
    demand and insuring for the instrument itself the progressive career
    to which it was originally dedicated.  The Haddorff player-piano is
    in every way the same creation as the Haddorff piano equipped with
    the pneumatic action by which the utmost refinement of expression is
    easily possible. All of the effects possible to human interpretation
    are attainable with an accuracy absolutely dependable.  The Haddorff
    Reproducing Piano is electrically controlled and is representative
    of the latest advance in this marvelous instrument by which the
    performances of the greatest pianist may be reproduced with fidelity
    of the most delicate tonal results of accent, tonal control and
    technique. Haddorff pianos have attained an immovable place in the
    world of art, and they are everywhere recognized for the influence
    they exert in musical life and in the business attainments of their
    representatives.

    "Haddorff Piano Co.; P. A. Peterson, Pres,; C. A. Haddorff, Vice
    Pres.; L. I. Johnson, Secy., and A. E. Johnson, Treas.
    Manufacturers of Haddorff grands, reproducing grands, uprights and
    player-pianos.  Office and factory Rockford, Ill., U. S. A.

    "One of the most extensive and energetic of the American piano
    industries.  The factory is imposing, with its eight acres of shop
    space and its most modern equipment, embracing many new and original
    factory appliances.  The stockholders and officers are wealthy
    citizens of Rockford, an industrial city of importance, who have
    been active in developing manufacturing industries in other lines.
    Mr. Chas. A. Haddorff, the factory superintendent, has devoted his
    entire life to the piano and its development and ranks among the
    foremost piano makers in the country.  The latest achievement of the
    Haddorff Piano Co. is the Reproducing grand, which is distinguished
    by artistic qualities of the highest order.  The Haddorff Piano Co.
    represents an investment of more that $1,000,000. A strong house and
    reliable."

Jack M. Conway
Los Angeles, CA