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Thanks. I’m currently advising another guy that just got a Baldwin action player on restoring. My videos were timely for him

I can’t argue with a guy with the name soundman in his handle 😉. Agree, this was made with a poor audio setup. Thank you for the feedback

The voice track is flipped 180 from left to right so when the channels are summed the voiceover almost disappears.

Yep, that whole roll is great. My colleagues and I had a run in with a lady named Maria and we would always start humming this song when we saw her.

Great info. It’s amazing the history of both the piano roll companies and those artists that played for them. Many of the same titles at different companies were played by J. Lawrence Cook under different names…he’s one of my favorites .

Lol, thanks. I’m actually re-learning playing the piano so maybe one day I can play that song

Wow, I’m glad I didn’t have any frozen or broken let off screws!

Thanks for the insight….when I listen to the Connie Francis arrangement I don’t pickup Foxtrot compared to others. As far as the tempo after 2:50 my tempo settings run a bit high when I set the lever so that may have influenced what you heard

I vote the tremolos fit a little better within the waltz frame as opposed to the swing, but hey .. it's all good! Very much enjoyed this roll. I have the QRS 2224 J. Lawrence Cook roll version.

What an awesome story and thanks for sharing. There always seems to be stories that connect life and music. This is one of the reasons I really enjoy this era of music. Despite prejudices, the black community carried much influence thru their music and many got opportunities back then because of their amazing talents in the music industry.

This is a Baldwin player action. Ellington was one of Baldwin piano brands…supposedly their higher end. Baldwin actions are unique.

Thank you!

thank you. I love being able to pump to add the expression to the song

It’s on a medley roll so the next song immediately starts…I felt that was the best way to prevent the next song from playing

The whole roll is great but just recorded this one for Christmas

The box and label information was missing but I believe it is QRS role 227

Also, may I ask how you get a player piano, @@shawnmalone3803?

​@@shawnmalone3803 I have this same roll. It was originally QRS 1798 then reissued as Q-227. Both my box and roll lists the artist as "Osborne & Howe"

Thank you…the bass strings on these old uprights really make some songs

The market has definitely changed and most players now that are passing hands from grandparents are needing repair and generally are not wanted by their children because they are large, heavy and cost over $500 just to move. Many are going in the dump or being salvaged for parts. The music from the rolls is what I find fascinating and somehow preserving the music from that era and playing it on a 100 year old piano gives me satisfaction.

@@shawnmalone3803 Until about 3 years ago I was following a group called "roll scanners" who had devised several devices to scan player piano rolls, converting them to midi files. Some even had punching machines to punch new rolls from the midi files. Somewhere there is at least one website were you can download thousands of these midi files. Then I stopped hearing from that group. I don't know f they still exist. I can sympathize with the people who can no longer deal with the nuisance of moving these old pianos or even have room for them. I did have fun with the piano i had while it was still working (unrestored). A previous owner had kept going by removing the pedals and installing vacuum cleaner motor. It finally stopped completely. Before I could restore it, I got involved in restoring the nickelodeon and a reproducing grand. By then I was done, and sold it. I still have some bellows cloth; I wonder if it's still good. I also have the spoolbox and pneumatic motor from a Gulbransen piano. It had to be scrapped many years ago because it had been in a flooded basement. There is a family near me who has a fantastic collection of perfectly restored orchestrions and other automatic instruments, plus the world's second largest theater organ and a 100 year old carousel. - Sanfilippo's in Barrington , IL

thank you. It's pump pedal style. I feel like I can add better expression than just turning on an electric motor.

​@@shawnmalone3803Mine is also pump. You're right in that we can get so much more expression that way.

I realized after publishing these that the background music was not ideal.

Thank you. I would love to hear your Ampico!

I had my piano fully restored in 2021. Very tight, lots of pressure. It makes an enormous difference for sure! These old pianos must be preserved as much as possible.

The system in your piano was made by Baldwin and could be made to be very tight and responsive if rebuilt properly, I've done many of them. I started rebuilding at age 12 rebuilding pneumatics for an old man that had worked at Standard and then Ampico.

@brucemercer8458 Really...?!! That is absolutely fascinating to me and I really appreciate that information. It was restored by a man named Ralph Nelson at historic pianos in Nibley Utah. He's a genius. I can get so much volume from this piano and it sounds out of this world in person. So glad to know it was such a great player system initially. This means a lot to me.

Not a problem. You are correct that I am pumping the pedals to the lower bellows to create the vacuum pressure. I rest my left hand on the railing where three buttons are located. Each is attached to a separate bellow. One controls the loud or sustain pedal and the other two control the soft pedal to the bass and treble hammers. Many of the piano rolls have holes that show when to push the sustain button and lines on the roll that shows the level of loudness. Pumping harder will make hammers strike louder and pumping less makes softer notes but to go lower the soft buttons push the hammers closer to the strings making even more softer and lower notes. You may notice the rise and fall of the volume during some of the piano rolls being played.

Another question in reference to the video, What are you showing visually on screen while the piano is playing? Thank you for your previous reply. It was very helpful. I find player pianos to be. Fascinating.

​@reinhardstebner6299 His camera is positioned to the left side of his piano so that most of the piano, from the keyboard up, is visible. You can barely see the tops of his legs while foot pumping. The roll is visible as it advances along. He has a beautiful old black upright piano. There are many of us who are currently posting player piano rolls from decades ago. If you're looking for other player piano links, I'd invite you to try my channel as well. Many songs such as this are posted and played on my piano. These songs are happy, upbeat and bring smiles to faces. Thanks and enjoy.

The audio was good but the role was slightly larger in width so I noticed a hissing sound every time the role went too far left and activated the bellow that controls the auto tracking.

If you read more about the actual opera and each Act you can also imagine the scene when this song is played. Act 4 is when Miserere is played

Your’re welcome!

Thank you Alan. Sometimes I wish I took more video of the process but I was learning as I was restoring and ultimately the pictures were for me to ensure I put it back together right!

So glad you loved it. Hope you have a chance listen to my other player piano songs

Es un regalo

Me alegro de que estés disfrutando de las canciones

Thank you for listening!

Hello Reinhard, thank you for listening to my player piano songs. I’ll do my best to describe and please let me know if I can provide more info. My foot pumped Ellington player piano was made in 1914 by the Baldwin company. It is an upright player piano so it stands about 58” tall and about 57” wide. The original color was a reddish mahogany but when I refinished it I painted it a matte coal black color which makes the brass tracker bar and take up spool of the player mechanism really stand out. The support legs under the keyslip are a tapered square with deep groves that follow their shape. Along the keyslip are 3 round black buttons on the left that control the sustain pedal and bass/treble soft pedals. In the middle of the keyslip is the brass lever that controls the tempo and on the right are two round black buttons that allow one to accelerate or slow down the tempo. The whole piano weighs about 1100lbs. Some people say the old uprights have great bass sound because they have longer bass strings than the newer pianos these days. I hope this helps.

I’m so glad you enjoyed it and brought back memories. For some reason this has become the most popular song I have posted on TH-cam.

Hi James. I bought my piano action parts from Howard piano but most of my bellows cloth and other supplies came from www.player-care.com/ ….John Tuttle is good to work with and also sells pouch setters and he made one for the Baldwin players after seeing my design . I bought my pouch leather and leather for gaskets from Columbia Organ Leathers and my leather valve from Steves Piano Service.

Good luck and if you have any questions just send an email to maloneshawnp@gmail.com

Glad you enjoyed it!

You can find that here th-cam.com/video/uL9NudhhSQE/w-d-xo.html

Thanks for sharing. It’s a shame how he deteriorated so quickly

Thank you so much.. we’ve had so much fun playing the player rolls with friends and family . Glad you enjoyed

Thanks, it really plays well

Glad you liked it…I have another half dozen Blues rolls I’ll get posted in the coming months

Btw…be sure to check out my other Blues songs “Shake That Thing” and “Up The Country Blues” on my channel

Glad you enjoyed and Thank you for your feedback. I realize after I posted it that the background music was a bit loud compared to the original file.

Do you plan to restore it yourself? It’s worth the effort !