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MMD > Archives > May 2011 > 2011.05.03 > 07Prev  Next


Value of Push-up Piano Player
By John Phillips

Hello.  I purchased a 65-note push-up here in Hobart, Tasmania,
about 25 years ago.  I don't really remember what I paid for it;
it would have been about U.S. $150.

I had no idea what I was buying at the time; it turned out to have
Themodist and even had a little adapter that enables one to play
58-note rolls.  However, I don't have any of those.  It took me about
two years to rebuild the instrument, and I went to an adult education
course on french polishing in order to learn how to refinish the case.
It looks pretty good, now, and still plays well.

I was lucky and soon after acquiring the player, I learned of an
elderly couple in Melbourne who wanted to dispose of their collection
of 65-note rolls.  Well, they immediately found a customer, and soon
a truck arrived at our front door and disgorged about six tea chests
full of rolls.  65-note rolls turn up in local antique shops now and
then and they still can be bought from Frances Broadway's UK postal
roll auction.

Julian Dyer is correct -- these rolls can be found still, if one
searches hard enough.  I just checked my Excel files and found that I
have about 1230 of them.  A couple of them have the early Aeriol label,
printed on the leader with "Patented May 12th 1891."

The player is easy to use, although I find it hard to play really
softly.  This partly is due to the lack of a Soft Pedal control which,
I believe, no push-up players have.  (I fully expect to be corrected
about that statement, with an explanation if possible.)

John Phillips in Hobart, Tasmania.


(Message sent Wed 4 May 2011, 01:57:44 GMT, from time zone GMT+1000.)

Key Words in Subject:  Piano, Player, Push-up, Value

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