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A few years ago I replaced the soundboard, bridgecaps and pinblock in one of these. I only had the back, so unfortunately I didn't get to see the whole thing. The owner told me that there were only two others in existence. He had to do a lot of parts scrounging to complete it. Mark Story, RPT Eastern Washington University Mail Stop 100, Cheney WA 99004 mstory@ewu.edu ----- Original Message ----- From: Robert Goodale <rrg@nevada.edu> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Thursday, June 03, 1999 6:06 PM Subject: Silent Movie pianos & photo players > > > Tom Cole wrote: > > Right you are!! Photo Players were very popular and common in silent movie > houses. The idea was to provide various sound effects to accompany the show. > Music rolls were orchestrated for specific types of programing and were played on > either of the two spool boxes, (there were two so that one could be changed while > the other was playing). The instrument could also be played manually or in > combination. Typically the system featured a center console with one or two, (or > more) separate cabinets that contained various pneumatically operated noise > makers, chimes, pipes, and such. The keyboard section of course contained the > piano. Unfortunately when the silent era ended abruptly there was little use or > interest in these fantastic machines. Most were destroyed and sadly only a small > handful remain today in the hands of collectors. Tragically most other types of > music machines, (orchestrians, nickelodeons, band organs, etc.), experienced the > same fate. > > Follow this link for a picture of a photo player: > http://www.98.net/birdmusic/images/Photoplayer.gif > > > Rob Goodale, RPT >
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