Orchestrian on Ebay
Hi, Does anyone know anything about this http://cgi.ebay.com/1910-Orchestrian-Piano-Coin-Operated_W0QQitemZ190168129950QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting Regards Nick

It looks to be a product of Ragtime Automated Music http://www.ragtimewest.com/, a current maker in California. If you're thinking about it I would recommend that you read the extensive postings pro and con on MMD over the years: http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/KWIC/R/ragtime.html They produce an amazing array of interesting instruments, not my cup of tea, but they probably get seen more often by the public in the US than any antique instruments. Cheers, Roger

Thankyou Roger, Just watching the market at the moment and trying to learn a little.

Hi Nick, Take a look at Cooley's Olde Tyme Piano Shoppe , they have a lot of interesting items for sale, Bob

Just thought I'd add that this particular orchestrion on Ebay is not a RAM (Ragtime Automated Music) product, but rather a "Stafford Nickelodeon" made by Allan Stafford of Pennsylvania. He basically takes old (foot-pumped) player pianos, and except for the original player stack, guts them. He adds the extra instruments (accordion, percussion), new roll frame, lights, etc. as well as ornamenting the case with art glass and sometimes even swapping out the original piano legs with new griffin-style legs. I believe he mass-produces the added stuff such as the bass drum, roll frame, accordion, etc. You might notice the art glass lamps are copies of Seeburg E lamps. http://www.staffordsnickelodeonwarehouse.com/ Few "modern" (1960's-present) coin piano and orchestrion builders use new pianos as their basis. Most seem to start with an antique upright, whether a "straight" piano, or an ex-footpumper. The instruments "made" by Ragtime Automated Music of California, Ragola of Nevada, Robert's Musical Restorations of Florida, or Stafford of Pennsylvania are all good examples of this. http://www.ragtimewest.com/we01000.htm http://www.robertsmusicalrestorations.com/ RAM products are not well-regarded by most restorers I have talked to, though some of the same restorers seem to speak fairly well of the Ragola and Stafford products, probably since the latter have player parts made out of wood as usual, while the former company currently uses plastic! (and used to use aluminum, which apparently was even worse). On the other hand, there have been a few modern makers (most now defunct) which made new orchestrions from the ground up, either making their own pianos, or having a deal with a current piano maker to purchase new ones. These makers include Aeolian (AKA Nickelodeon Piano Co. of Alabama???), who made a tall-case instrument with piano, accordion, and drums/percussion, as well as a short-case spinet with orchestra bells and small percussion; Universal Piano Co. which made a tall case orchestrion with either bells or xylophone, plus the usual percussions; and Muzelle, who I believe are still in business: the pianos being made (apparently) by Daewoo in Korea, and the player mechanisms by Resource West in Nevada. http://www.ibachpiano.com/nickelodeon As far as I know, all these instruments use O-rolls, and a principal complaint by those who hear them are that they don't play with any expression. The original orchestrions made by Coinola, which used this roll style, came with limited expression (piano hammer rail, etc) standard, and some had additional percussion expression as well. Many of the above modern makes do not have any expression at all; you drop a coin in, the suction box whines, and they basically pound out a tune! I think some of the makers offer expression add-ons for more money, but I don't know how effective they are, and I don't think any of the makers offer them as standard equipment. Just my $0.02 I know this is only peripherally related to fairground organs, but I thought some people here might want to know.