Comments = I like the "snap shot" of life in the past as recorded on the old timey rolls. I'm also impressed with the turn of the century technology.

Comments = i love the ambiance of a player piano, the sound can
not be reproduced electronically

Comments = How else can I experience LIVE piano music in the comfort of my home without knowing how to play or having someone play the piano...and to hear the music, as intended, consistently, without mistakes!

Comments = 1) This is a hell of a survey, I don't see how you can extract much significance statistically from such a free-form approach; however, here goes!
2) What I like (this will be very incomplete, necessarily.)
2a) The ability to play popular music of an earlier period, which is according to my musical taste.
2b) The ability to mold and influence the performance by either "pianolistic interpretation' via the pedals on 88 rolls, or even the use of the controls (especially the Duo-Art's) when playing plain music on the reproducer.
2c) Listening to a machine play the piano just like a real person, on the Ampico and the Duo-Art. I know most of the performances are fakes, but what remains after all the bullshit is swept away, is that they are beautyful fakes, and stand on their own merits as aesthetically satisfying performances, which give ME a lot of pleasure.

2d) The act of rebuilding; the challange, the learning of the old techniques to replicate, even the repetitiveness of some of the work gives me a strange sense of accomplishment, especially when I get it right!
2e) The Engineering technology involved fascenates me as an engineer. All the way from the crudely and grossly overdesigned early Aeolian or Lauter products, to the late Guilbrannsen-Jensen; which however hard to fix, remains one of the most elegant examples of manufacturing/production engineering desigh in the 20th century.
2f) Surprising people when I show them my work; and even more so, surprising people when I play the Ampico and it sounds like a piano, NOT what modern people's conception of what a Player is supposed to sound like. Pure vanity I suppose, but everybody likes to show others the ability to do something that other people can't.
2g) Having a hobby that is harmless, and actually serves to preserve, in a small way, an bit of our collective cultural heritage. I hesitate to thing of all the money I have spent on rolls and materials over 45 years; but on the other hand, think of all I have saved on booze and p....!
I could go on....
3) What I don't like: obviously not much that I can think of, but if you are collecting pet-peeves, here goes!
3a) People who are fascinated by the mechanical phenomenology of making the instrument work, in the sense of striking out a series of notes in the order programmed on the original medium, but gives no consideration to the musicality of the performance. It is surprising, and depressing, to note how many Rallys, Collections, and even major recording companies, seem satisfied that the machine 'works'; "Wow; that is George Gershwin actually playing my piano!", but the instrument itself is out of tune, ill-voiced, dampers and hammers gone, unregulated, you know the rest... This type of public performance makes me ill, and does a terrible disservice to our hobby. Most people nowadays think that any mechanical musical instrument actually sounds like a "nickleodeon" from the 50's song; and therefore wonders why we make such an effort about the matter.

Comments = What I like about Player Piano's is you always have some to play the piano while you sing.
You don't even have to know how to play to run one. They are great for sing alongs.

Comments = I like my Autopiano pumper because I can perform my own expression. My taste often varies from the stated tempo and expression published on the rolls.
I also like it becuase it's real acustical music in my living room. If you stand outside the house, there's no doubt that "that's a piano playing" and not a recording.
Also, I can play it myself or let the roll do the hard part. Whatever mood I'm in ...

Comments = i love working on them putting new life in them
and listening to them

Comments = I purchased my paino in Chicago many years ago. I have since moved to Los Angeles, and finaly to San Diego. The only thing I think I don't like about my player paino is the weight. I played a player paino when I was a kid, and my best friend's mother had one, and on the weekend I would go over to his house and pump it for hours. I said that someday I would have one. I have about 400 roles. I love my player piano, because I can pump it for a couple of hours, enjoy the music, and get exercise. In a couple of years I will be moving back to the Midwest, and of course the paino will go back also. The name of the piano is Geo. P. Bent, so I always refer to it as George.

Comments = I love antique musical instaments. Even more so I love antique mechanical instaments.

Comments = I like to marvel at the precision of the old time craftsman and see how well I can duplicate it.

Comments = Makes me sound like a virtuoso!! We enjoy playing rolls when we have friends over for parties. They love it!
Our player is an old Cunningham pump which is still in very good condition.
I hope there will always be rolls available in the future.
Thanks, Jeff Christopher

Comments = I recently came into the world of player piano's through my fiancee. At Thanksgiving, her Aunt offered us the piano for free.
The piano had been her mother's and she wanted to keep it in the
family. I said ok and we paid the transportation
500.00 dollars to have the piano transported
professionally. After the piano arrived, my girlfriend
started playing (she had used it as a child at her
grandmothers). To see how happy she was made the cost of transportation
well worth the purchase. She has been extremely depressed
lately and the piano was the best medicine.
Now we are just beginning the journey
into the world of player piano's.

Comments = How it turns shy people happy and into participants at parties and get togethers.
Unlike other Household items, this brings the house and people alive.
Music like food is a great catalyst for fun and warmth.

Comments =
I have a circa 1926 Autoplayer with what I believe
is a Standard player installation. I love to hear

a real piano playing and I don't play myself. It's
great fun at parties too; we like to stand around
the piano and sing. And most of all, I like to sit
in my living room and hear some of the worlds'
greatest pianists and composers play just for me.
I wish I had a reproducer.
What I don't like is the relatively high cost of
piano rolls for the machine, (which makes your web
site doublely attractive), and the occasional
repairs or rebuilding I have to do to keep the
instrument playing. On the other hand, I am facin-
ated by the idea of someday being able to clamp a
device over the tracker bar and hook up the piano
to the computer to play countless midi versions of
piano rolls which otherwise might never be available
to me. Wow! What an idea!

Comments = I have always enjoyed the sound of a Player, and have been a Ragtime fan since I was a kid in band. My uncle is a collector of pianos and his collection has always been a joy to be around. I prefer the singular pure sound of the players instead of the band styles.

Comments = I enjoy seeing what the technology of the early 20th century could produce through non-electronic means. I also enjoy the arrangements produced by the likes of J. Lawrence Cook, Fats Waller, etc.

Comments = I have an Adam Schaaf player piano, that has been electrified, most recent patent date is 1913. I like the sound of it and enjoy watching the mechanics of it operate. I have listened to the new computer controlled pianos and they are no comparision to the old players. My favorite artists are Pete Wendling and Max Kortlander, I also prefer the four handed, Harold Scott and Jeff Watters. I also like the "Melodee" rolls but they are difficult to find.

Comments = I just moved my Dad's antique player piano into
my house (Dad's still alive, he just didn't have
room for it in his latest move). When I was a Kid
the piano was kept at my Grandmother's, and it was
the center of attraction for my sisters, cousins,
and myself. Most every song that I know, not
including pop music since the late 50's, I learned
sitting at that piano. Today, I extract two major
joys from the piano: Playing it with my 2&1/2
year old daughter (she can already sing all verses
of "Side by Side" & "Bye Bye Blackbird"), and
learning about its construction and principles of
operation.

Comments = Love piano music and since I do not play, the player
is the only way to go.

Comments = I much prefer pump piano players rather than electric. I think the electric players sound too.o.o.o mechanical. With the pump players you con getr more expression into the music and make it sound more llike way the composer intended it to be played.

Comments = It is like having the artist sitting in your living room. I never realized, for instance, how good Liberace was until I saw the keys dancing up and down and the sound as generated by the artist himself. Also the ragtime from Scott Joplin is a sound of its own. No CD or any other media can reproduce the perfect sound of the instrument itself. Also, watching the mechanism at work from a time of what most consider low technology, however, look at the air motor and keys do their work. Bob

Comments = I've only had one for a couple days, but one thing I like is that even if the player is not working I can tell my wife to go ahead and play it like it is and I don't have to fix it right away!! I also like the fact that I can enjoy the sound of good music even though I don't know much about playing it. I'm a welder and mechanic and like to watch mechanical marvels work.

Comments = Like?
I like the way my single-valve Euphona (by Cable)action is installed with the [striker]pneumatics opening on the fallboard side instead of the action side so the travel is greater for better expression. Also the Reroll/fast forward/tempo lever is all one piece, and the nickel-plated tracker bar is sharp!
I like the Little "Melody Bar" Gullbransen used to put on their players to follow the words.
I like the rig with on the Schiller pianos that opens the other door the same time you push one open.
I like the Mechanical levers better than push-buttons for the hammer-rail controls, because a push button is either off or on and a lever can be held at any point in between.(Mine has the Push-buttons)
I like the Auto tracker in the Standard action better than the Aeolian because the little fingers on the Aeolian tend to put little pleats in the roll and then it won't track worth a Darn.
I like the honkeytonk rails too...
What I DISLIKE is people who think the best way to get a player going is to slap an electric suction unit to it, and play it that way when the upper player action is falling apart around itself...That galls me to no end! It's a cheap and shoddy way to treat a piano!
If your Car has a transmision and drive train leaking fluid and needing rebuilt in a bad way, do you put a larger moter in the car so it goes as fast and strong as it used to? I Didn't think so....

Comments = Hows it going John. to answer the question from your survey I have a list of reasons why I like working / playing with player pianos:

1) I've played music most of my life, this is one way for me to introduce piano music to my kids so they wil be interested.
2) I received a player piano for free from a friend of yours, at least he called you out by name and highly recommended you for roles, His name is Al Pebworth in Chesapeake Va.
3) Although I'm having to rebuild the player parts, the rest of the piano is in great shape.
4) The real story, my wife is making me do it, she has always loved the sound of a good played piano, and since I don't play good this is the next best thing.

Comments = Gosh, what is not to like! I have rebuilt an 1932
Wangrin Pipe organ in my attic and cannot play a note
of music. I did not want to invest in an electronic
relay and go the "MIDI" route, so a player stack was
a natural addition.
88 Note rolls sound Great on the organ, and I was fortunate
enough to have lived through the late 50's and 60's
when every bar had a piano player and "sing-a-longs".
Many of the songs available on the older roll music are
the same soungs that we sang in the bars at that time.
Age, and wisdom keep me out of the bars now, but the songs
bring back some fantastic memories.
Rebuilding and electrifing the stack was a challenge,
especially given the fact that I had not heard of you, or
any other source of information on player pianos. Anyway,
it is up and running now, I just have to build some sort of
case to house the stack in and it will be finished!

Comments = the sounds,ability to hear piano and not have to know how to play.

As an avid (my wife would say "rabid") enthusiast-restorer (by no means an expert, but they work for me) over the last 30 years, I've heard a rare comment "I don't like the smell." True, occasionally as you start restoration of a long forgotten "find" there will be odors left behind by former rodent residents, but that to me is a minor inconvenience. The residual odor I say is due to the rubber products used in restoration. To me, these rare people who object to any odor don't deserve to have the privilege of owning a player piano. Love me, love my smelly piano.

...To Contents Page

Suggestions or Comments to John A. Tuttle (site administrator)