In the 12.01.02 MMDigest, Bob Stewart asks about the Story & Clark
"Reprotone" player action in a Hampton upright player piano.

Several player manufacturers addressed the issue of allowing their
player pianos to accommodate reproducing rolls.  The lever in the
spoolbox of the Reprotone player simply disables the end notes in
the extremes of the keyboard.  However, the player action itself did,
in fact, have eighty-eight functioning pneumatics and valves, etc.

(I personally am not a big fan of the typical "blue blotter paper gasket"
Story & Clark players of the 1920s.  They did, however, greatly improve
the construction of their single-valve action by the late 1920s, with
much better quality materials, leather gaskets, leather pouches,
[making them] extremely easy to pedal.  A plurality of these "Reprotone"
players are of the later type, and are quite good.)

The Standard Action Company had what they called the "Artist Record
Action".  A special gold plaque placed in the spoolbox stated that
"This player action is specially constructed to play any make of player
or reproducing piano with transposer lever at Normal".  Well, sort of;
it simply played only 80 notes, leaving off four notes at either
extreme [which is] kind of a problem with Welte (Licensee) rolls, but
that's another story altogether.

Now consider the late 1920s -- every major music store sold piano
rolls, and a majority of the stores also stocked reproducing rolls.

I rather like the way the American Piano Company addressed the issue:
the upright players from American (Armstrong, Brewster) now had late
"Standard" actions (Amphion parts were much more valuable as an
Ampico).  The higher-end instruments (Marshall & Wendell) had the
Standard "Artist Record" action (80 notes only) [whereas] the lower
priced pianos from American -- (Armstrong, Brewster), sold in the
same stores which sold Haines Bros., J & C Fischer, Chickering, Knabe,
or Mason & Hamlin (all controlled by American) -- typically had an
83-note stack, corresponding to the notes played by the Ampico.  The
dealers no longer had to tell their valuable customers that "These
Ampico rolls will not play on your piano".  They played just fine
without the annoying "plink/plunk" of extraneous notes sounding in
the extremes of the keyboard.

Late Aeolian 88-note players (not "Themodists") had only 80
functioning notes.  Simplex did the same thing in the late 1920s.

By the way, I've always enjoyed playing reproducing rolls on
a conventional foot pedal player -- trying to "out-Ampico" the Ampico!

Tom Ahearn - "Player Piano Service" since 1972