David Dewey asked about the value of a Tel-Electric system he found.
It appears that it is a Tel-Electric 65-note system, rather than the
Telektra 88-note system, judging from the size of the rolls.  The
Tel-Electric rolls are 5-1/2 inches long, the Telektra rolls are 7-1/2
inches long.  The Tel-Electric boxes would measure a little under 6
inches.

David has found a rare beast, a Tel-Electric action stack (the
magnet bank).  The magnet bank was mounted under the keybed, where it
interfered with the knees of someone trying to play the piano by hand.
When the systems stopped working most of the magnet banks were pulled
out and thrown away, since they were large, heavy things that were
difficult to store.  The console that played the rolls was about the
size of a sewing machine and in a nice cabinet, so many of those
survived because they were easy to store.

David should look for the pedal magnets as well.  These varied over the
years, but were usually about 3 inches in diameter and 5 inches long.
Also he should look for a motor-generator, which was commonly used for
the system.  It will have "The Telelectric Company" on its nameplate.

The Tel-Electric mechanisms were installed "after market", that is,
they were custom fitted to existing pianos.  This was a relatively
simple process, the only touchy part was aligning the holes drilled in
the keybed to the keys and magnets.  The rest was just screwing down
the parts.  If the system is complete it could be installed in a
standard piano without a lot of effort.  This does not include any
restoration that might be needed.
 
Tel-Electric issued a surprising number of titles in its 12 years of
existence, 1905 - 1917.  We have catalogued about 6,000 titles, and
there are enough gaps in the list that we think that they may have
issued as many as 10,000 titles.  There are still a lot of the rolls
around, so someone installing the system should be able to find a good
selection to play.

So down to the bottom line:  How much is it worth?  We sold an even
rarer Telektra 88-note system a few months ago for $1,000, so I would
guess somewhere in the range of $500, if he found someone who wanted
it.  If he could buy the system for $100 he wouldn't lose money on it.

Bob Billings