Congratulations for presenting such a great series on restoration of a foot pumped player piano. It is extremely satisfying to play your first roll. I kept a journal when I restored my first player and invested well over 500 hours of labor to finally play may first roll, "Peg o my Heart" That was some 25 years ago and the piano still plays well and is admired by all that see and hear it. 4 of our5 of grand children (15 to 8) know how to set up and play "Pop Pops Piano" and we are working on teaching the 6 year old. Passing on a great history and tradition in our family and loving it!!
I posted a partial video of a wurlitzer 164 organ playing The Pink Panther. It was arranged by Andy Park. A young and talented arranger. He is seen at the 3nd of the video in front of the organ. He is reaching for the organ with his hand, since he is blind.
Nice arrangement on that roll! Some piano rolls over due it a bit by taking a simple song and playing it in a far too complex way “because they can” but they kept it simple on this one!
I remember the first piano roll I ever heard, QRS's "Glen Miller Hits" large roll. The copy I heard is no longer around today because it was so old it just disintegrated one day. I purchased a newly recut one directly from QRS so I'll always be able to listen to the beautiful song I heard, Moonlight Serenade. You did a beautiful job restoring the piano! I hope mine plays as well as yours. It just got shipped to a much better workshop than my garage so we can use power tools and have more space. If you really want to show off what this piano can do, I recommend you listen to the piano roll called "Circus Galop." It is probably the most chaotic piano roll out there with around 1,847 notes total and up to 15 notes being played at a time. They don't sell it anywhere in the United States, but a man in Germany named Wolfgang Heisig custom makes it for a good price. I have a roll coming in a few days, I'll upload a recording of it on the player piano at my school when it arrives. Oh that reminds me, I keep forgetting to ask what wood type and finish your piano has, it is gorgeous! Have a wonderful weekend!
Hi there! Thanks for the tip on the Circus Galop roll. I look forward to hearing your recording! I have some gallops in my roll collection, they're feisty! It's also fun to see how "little" the piano can do, too. With this particular song less is more. This Haddorf has its original shellac finish, with plenty of "patina" Enjoy your project!
@@nateoutsidethevacuum I agree with the importance of the little things in the piano, this one looks so easy to control it almost looks natural. The case on my piano is made of fine grain African Mahogany with the original shellac finish. I’ll have to replace the shellac since it is cracked all over and falling apart just from touching it. What’s the best way to get the old shellac off without damaging the wood? I want to preserve the beautiful wood as much as possible so it is visible in the final product.
@AspenPianola thank you! I'm happy with how responsive this piano turned out to be. You might try stripping off the old shellac with denatured alcohol and stripping pads. If that doesn't cut it you may need to get a more aggressive stripping product.
