Hi John, To me, Stuyvesant has always been a name associated with
the Aeolian Company. I don't know when they first used that name.
As a brand of piano, the name could have originated with them, or be
the name of a company they acquired.
The pinstriping on the plate suggests a very early player. The part
of the plate bearing the name may be separate from the rest of the
plate. This could have originally had a 65-note-only player action.
If so, the wippens outside of the 65-note range may be newer-looking
or somehow different from the rest, to accommodate an 88-note stack.
The present spoolbox and windmotor are identical to those of a Ludwig
instrument I once owned, although the bottom action is very different.
I don't know who made the Ludwig; there is no name cast into any part
of the plate, just a decal. The automatic tracking is weird -- it is
driven by a revolving left-hand roll chuck, which terminates in a rubber
button that engages with the left flange of the roll being played.
As a whole, this piano seems to be a hodgepodge of ill-fitting mismatched
parts which may never have worked right.
Happy Birthday,
Jeff Wood
|