Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Coin Operated Starck Player Piano, c. 1922 |
Object Name |
Piano, Player |
Description |
Coin Operated Starck Player Piano, c. 1922. Upright player piano is solid wood with a brown stain finish. Front panel above keys is stained glass with a clear beveled oval opening displaying an automatic xylophone. It has three silver-colored metal foot petals. The front panel above the foot pedals has a rectangular glass window displaying the piano music roll in the center and two drums on either side. Piano is on casters and piano keyboard is supported by two legs, which are formed from ornately carved columns that are inscribed with geometric diamond, line, and fan motifs. Top has a hinged door, which displays internal piano parts. There is a light mounted beneath the top of door. There is a decorative brass coin slot with twenty five cents and a hand with its finger pointed embossed on front; this is mounted in the top right corner of front panel. |
Date |
c. 1922 |
Creator |
Stark |
Role |
Manufacturer |
Catalog Number |
2008.067 |
Dimensions |
H-56 W-56 D-27.5 inches |
Collection |
3D - Musical Tools & Equipment |
Inscription Text |
"25c" (embossed on brass plate in top right front corner); "May 25/1940 / G & Smith p / Feb 18/41e" (handwritten in pencil beneath top); "Starck" (handwritten in black ink beneath top); "IMPROVED SCALE" (embossed beneath top) |
Provenance |
BELONGED TO THE GRANDPARENTS OF JEAN M. MUZIO |
Notes |
"Starck The P. A. Starck Piano was established in 1891 by P.A. Starck in Chicago. Their factory was located at Ashland Avenue and 39th Street, with warerooms and general offices at 204-206 Wabash Avenue. P. A. Starck was known for building extremely high quality pianos, and they offered a full line of uprights, baby grands, and player pianos. By the 1920's, the firm was being managed and controlled by P.T. Starck, son of P.A. Starck. The firm sold pianos under the brand names of Starck, P.A. Starck, Starck & Strack, Starckette, Combinette, Kenmore, and Brent. P. A. Stark was one of the few American piano manufacturers to survive the Great Depression without merging with a larger conglomerate. In 1956, Stark started building pianos for the Jesse French Piano Company. The firm went out of business in about 1965." [http://antiquepianoshop.com/online-museum/starck/ 8-19-2015] Fri 1/14/2011 3:05 PM Hi Dana, Thank you for giving up some of your time to show me the nickelodeon in the Museum last Sunday. I have looked at my reference books on automatic musical instruments and have not been able to positively identify the manufacturer of the nickelodeon. The Starck name is not listed in any of my books as a manufacturer of nickelodeons. The name Starck, written on the plate of the piano, almost certainly refers to P. A. Starck Company of Chicago that produced some fine pianos in its day. Starck are listed in the Pierce Piano Atlas and I am enclosing a copy of the relevant page for your reference. If the serial number of the piano can be located its year of manufacture can be established from this listing. I think it's quite likely that the Starck piano was modified much later by a company called Ragtime West that specializes in converting pianos into nickelodeons. Ragtime West (www.ragtimewest.com) is still in business today! It's interesting that the coin slot is for quarters and not nickels as one might expect for a truly antique instrument! Although I cannot say for certain I think the rolls used on this nickelodeon are "O" style rolls which normally have ten tunes punched on them. "O" rolls are 88-note rolls in which 65 holes are encoded to play the piano and some of the remaining holes are encoded to play the bass drum, the side drum, the triangle and the cymbal. It is my understanding that the xylophone would play the same notes as the piano but would be activated and deactivated by additional holes coded in the rolls. "O" rolls are normally punched with 9 holes per inch so it should be relatively easy to determine the roll type used by measuring the tracker bar hole spacing. On the Ragtime West website I have located the tracker bar layout for "O" rolls at the end of their catalog. With Ragtime West pianos the piano plays continually from holes 20 through 85 so only 65 notes of the piano are playable automatically. "O" style rolls are still available as both new arrangements or as recuts from a number of sources. Johnny's Music Rolls (www.johnnysmusicrolls.com) operated by John Mottoros and located in Sutter Creek, CA, has a large selection of "O" rolls available including a test roll that includes details of the tracker bar layout. These rolls are punched by Sierra Music Rolls (www.sierramusicrolls.com), owned and operated by Bob and Ginny Billings in Reno, NV. I met all these people through the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association (AMICA) many years ago. These rolls are considered some of the best available and are accurately punched on a modern computer-controlled perforator built by Bob Billings. If, as I suspect, the nickelodeon is Ragtime West modified Starck piano then it's likely that the relatively new additions are in good condition. The biggest problem is the piano itself which has some serious tuning problems that indicate that some of the tuning pins are loose in the pin block or that the pin block is damaged. Only by trying to bring the defective notes up to pitch can one determine the extent of the problem. If you would like me to take another more detailed look at the instrument to see what the real situation is then please let me know. It would be good to see this nickelodeon play again! Regards, Martin A. Lilley |
Search Terms |
Pianos Player Pianos Starck |
Subjects |
Pianos Player pianos |
Credit line |
Courtesy of Jean Marie Muzio |