Re: Original Recording Pianos
By Terry Smythe
I appreciate that Craig is focusing this discussion on the original Welte recording piano, but perhaps there are a few among us who recall that Bill Flynt built a recording piano back in about the early 70's. There's a picture of it being used by Ruth Bingaman Smith in the October 1973 issue of the AMICA Bulletin, story about the 1973 AMICA Convention in Fort Worth.
In the November '73 issue, Bill's recording piano and companion perforator were described in an article by Robert Kirshner. It seems that Bill's performances of Warsaw Concerto, Jungle Echos and That's All, were all originally recorded on this piano, a modest gutted Marshall & Wendell grand, fitted with an Art Echo system modified to play Ampico rolls.
I never saw that piano and perforator before they were destroyed in a fire sometime in the late-70's. Perhaps some members of the Texas Chapter of AMICA might recall that piano, and how it did its thing, and possibly comment of the process as it was known at the time.
Regards,
Terry
Terry Smythe (204) 832-3982 (voice/fax)
55 Rowand Avenue smythe@mts.net
Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3J 2N6 smythe@freenet.mb.ca
Home Page: http://www.mts.net/~smythe |
(Message sent Sun 19 May 1996, 05:46:12 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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