Can you imagine the work that went into the programming of one of those paper rolls back in the day? Not to mention the designing and building the actual instrument, itself... Whoever designed this was some kind of Genius and would probably be a master computer programmer if he were living today. James, thank-you and congratulations for a totally engrossing and enjoyable video!
It cannot play any more notes than a violinist can play. Think of a violinist pulling through bow across all 4 strings at the same time. That’s what deploying all 4 wheels at once is similar to.
@@whammond511 Unless you're using a BACH bow (or two conventional bows), you can't bow all four strings on a violin simultaneously. You have to sweep across the strings, sounding only two (which have to be adjacent unless you're bowing UNDER the strings, then you can play the E and G strings at the same time) at any given moment. In this sense, this exceeds the capabilities of a single violinist using standard techniques. Both the BACH bow and two-bow methods would have to be considered "extended techniques".
I was just about to write that the first time I heard a Violano was (yikes) 40 years ago at the Deansboro Musical Museum , and I can still hear it in my mind, playing "Charmaine" .... and then this started playing Charmaine & I almost fell off my chair !!! This one is playing it much much more beautifully. Now that I hear it again, I am feeling quite emotional - I was traveling with dear friends at the time, and both of them are long gone.
As someone mentioned, the stringing pattern on the piano was distribute the tension on the harp and to minimize the need for tuning. Same with the weights on the violin strings. Mills really did their homework when they engineered these. Some had two violins. All electrical rather than pneumatic like most players of the era. Thanks for a very thorough tour of this very nice machine!
ThePianoforever Yes indeed. They called it the Double Violano. The motor in the bottom is actually an AC motor coupled to a DC generator, since the Mills is powered by DC. Thanks for your response!
The stringing pattern is simply to make the piano portion as small possible. It has nothing to do with the tuning. A piano is put out of tune by 2 things; how much it is played and changes in humidity.
@@whammond511 The design balances the asymmetrical stringing of a regular piano, so as to minimize the action of changing environment on different length and tension of the strings. Bars full of people, bars empty that's a lot of change. The violin, weight don't change tension-temperature-humidity does.
It has such a nostalgic sound to it, it almost reminds me of the music used in those old 70s Czechoslovakian kids cartoons.... I wish I remberwd the company.
Wow, with the MIDI function, it could play an unlimited number of song so long as you edit the number of instruments. Since the unit has wireless MIDI function, you could play your own compositions on a MIDI keyboard and store the file on your cell phone or laptop or iPad. Fascinating.
I know something about these instruments. The Mills Novelty Company made and marketed Violanos between 1907 and 1930 and sold several thousand of them. Anyone servicing them would know to tune the piano at the old International Pitch A-435 because that's where the violin was set. The big chrome things at the left were weights that kept the strings at a constant tension, and the four buttons you see would depress the bow to play the violin string and the corresponding piano note so that tuning could be consistent. You mentioned "pneumatics" but there are none, the entire instrument ran on electricity. The holes in the roll would expose electric contacts to the tracker bar instead of allowing air to activate a valve, and this was technologically advanced in the early 20th Century. Someone in the comments suggested the vibrato was always on, but this also was controlled by the roll, to better replicate the human touch on the strings. The revolving celluloid bows had a rosin block above them and a tray below to catch the dust. I have serviced several of these instruments during my career as a piano technician in the Midwest United States and I recognize them as a technological marvel of the early 20th Century. One of these units I prepared for an auction in about 1981 and the coin mechanism had been converted to accept quarters. It sold for $14,000 and I got to follow it to the new owner and continue maintenance for a period of years. It never needed much from year to year.
That is just absolutely...I have no words! I would love to have a time machine and go back and meet whoever designed it, AND the folks who built it, to shake their hands and congratulate them on their ingenuity. I'm blown away. James, you are amazing; you come up with the greatest content. But, being a bit of a Luddite, I have no idea how this machine would be able to read a digital file and convert it into music. It's mechanical, not electronic, yeah? I'm boggled. By the way, I'm sure you were relieved, as were we all, that the Grand Organ at Notre Dame Cathedral survived the fire. I watched a short video on it. It is massive, and apparently, although many of the pipes have been replaced over the years, some date from medieval times. Phenomenal instrument.
My understanding is that the instrument has had some sort of controller installed that tells the electric solenoids to activate via MIDI. Not 100% sure, though.
My dad tried to buy an old machine like this and fix it up, but some big fat dealer outbid him and got it. He, like my dad, most likely knew what it was worth refurbished and wasn’t going to let it go but I like my dad he had the money to spare. Great video.
Ahh! Once again an incredible display of mechanical art! Can't begin to get my head around where I would start. Just remarkable! Love this kind of stuff. Thanks for sharing!
I saw a sister instrument to this in London in 1984. These machines have always fascinated me and as a child, I was frightened of them. :) But they are incredible instruments. Thanks.
I like the little rosin applicator and rosin dust shield. I'm more impressed with the engineering than the musical output. The violin sounds very organ-like with the mechanical always-on vibrato (stylistically typical of 20th century violin playing), especially when the multiple strings play and the multiple violin"s" are playing with vibrato-in-unison (impossible with real violins played by people), very much like the organs you hear on TV sitcoms when there is a funeral. They have one at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, but I doubt they let anyone turn it on. You probably have the best-preserved and best-running/tuned example around in this video. And how cool that they can install MIDI and keep this thing period-authentic playing and looking. Thanks!
Greetings from the UK. Wow, Thank you for sharing James. I've always had a admiration for mechanical music so to see some of these rare machines is a real treat. The ingenuity, skill and cooperation that it must have taken place to come up with the idea and make it a reality is breath-taking. I really look forward to watching more of your posts.
That black motor in the lower cabinet is called a "rotary converter". Before transistors and diodes were invented, the only way you could convert AC power into DC power was by using an "RC". Its just an AC motor that spins a DC generator and the DC power is used to run the machine. Today we would just use a bridge rectifier which has no moving parts.
Diodes pre-date transistors by decades. They were just big tubes that looked exactly like the "real" components they're feeding power to, except that if you look really close, they've hardly got anything in them by comparison. That said, they may have found the motor/generator method to be more robust and reliable in an apparatus that has to be transported frequently. Also, rectifier tubes probably get hotter than the motor-generator combo, and you do have to wait for them to cool before moving equipment, or risk breaking the elements. If there are no OTHER tube-type elements (other than the light bulb), then it makes sense not to add any for power conversion.
These wonderful machines are probably the forerunners to the Jukebox. It really played Charmaine well - an old favourite of mine. Truly fascinating machine.
Way cool! This reminds me of a old museum in Underground Atlanta when I was in college. It was a warehouse filled with these type of mecanical music instruments. They were for fairs and entertainments. They made money 5 to 25 cents at a time. Like the one with the stained glass.
Regarding certain structural peculiarities: I believe there is a sound engineering basis. Specifically, the lower pitched strings may have been placed near the center of the sound board to improve bass response while still keeping the cabinet rather compact. As for the tuning system of the violin strings: I think you are correct about it being more stable than a standard violin tuning setup. The arrangement in the machine is basically a constant-tension design rather than a constant-length design, and would be much less sensitive to slight dimensional shifts caused by temperature, humidity, or slippage. Thus, the instrument would tend to stay in tune much longer.
The little tray under the turning wheels is a nice touch. The wheels must be rosined up just like a normal bow and that tray must be there to catch the dust.
The Phononliszt-Violina contains a piano and three violins. Please take a look at Alexander Buchner's "Encyclopaedia of music instruments" (I have one exemplar in French and know that there's in German, too; I'm not sure if there is a translation to English).
Love your videos dude. Your passion is inspiring. Thanks for all the time you take to share your excitement with us all the while teaching us about things we would otherwise know nothing about.
10:24 It sounds like a reminder that the rolls are spooled forward of the tracker bar, instead of it being the standard way, so you have to insert them accordingly.
gantmj I agree. That is exactly the reason. “Contacts” and “Tracker” mean the same in this context. I would suspect that “Tracker” or “Tracker Bar” may have a patented name by some company.
@@whammond511 Trailing fingers for electrical contact thru the holes in the paper. If you just rewind like a player they would tear up the song sheet. Bad.
Another "automaton"? In the days before the jukebox revolution, I imagine this was a more common form of entertainment. I have a collection of music box music from the Porter company and every time I listen to them, I fall in love with the sound over and over again. Wonderful explanation of this marvelous musical device James. Thank you.
Delightful and enchanting! I was dancing a lovely waltz to Charmaine in my head. These unusual finds are very interesting, James. I wish you'd played the other one a little for those of us not able to visit. Looking forward to what wonderment you happen upon next.
@@ThePianoforever I am surprised the Charmaine song is that old. I only knew the James Last versions from 1978 and I think 2007: ruclips.net/video/u31YyCXuD00/видео.html
10:25, I assume it means that the paper needs to be BEHIND the contact roller for tension or something. It's a beautifully crafted work of art. The polished aluminum with the patent badge, the birds eye maple and the light, it's all absolutely gorgeous to look at. Even the parts below, which aren't meant to be on display, look well enough to BE on display!
I love it. I wish we built more things like these now. Thank you for making interesting and informative videos. I also really loved the comment you made "it wiggles", all I could imagine was a tiny mechanical bee playing music the violin.
Those are really neat machines. Clark's Trading Post in Lincoln NH has several of these types of machines/ fairground organs. Hope you can see those at some time.
That is one of the better sounding Vilano's I have heard on RUclips, most are not properly tuned and end up not sounding very good. The Mills novelty company made a lot of interesting musical machines over the years, this being the most complex, but they also made some really cool and interesting Jukeboxes in the 1930's such as the 1937 "Studio", they also made a "Movie Jukebox" called the Pan-O-Ram in the 1940's.
Why? because it looks cool! seriously, though I think the weight method for tuning eliminates peg slipping, and the piano is strung like that because it makes for a more stable frame that doesn't need to be engineered for different tension stresses from one side to the other. Plus it looks cool!
@@ThePianoforever Tuning stability is a problem in pianos that get moved, and this thing probably got moved a lot in its first few years of service. Also, it sometimes matters exactly where you put the end of a string on the sound board, and this may have allowed them to work around an unfortunate alignment of "dead spot" and string.
So this is actually owned by someone and updated to use a midi for modern tunes? Wow, it must have cost a fortune. I've seen these in museums on youtube before, but you seem to be in someone's home. Oh, Bill Kap's Pianos. If I ever get to Ohio I will look up Kap's Pianos for sure. Very nice video. Thanks.
Greetings James, so now all we have to do is puzzle out the reason for the odd string arrangement upon the piano harp ? and the curious but fascinating tuning method for the violin, interesting to see the presence of a rosin block (they really did think of everything) Pleased that you know what a hurdy-gurdy is, you would be surprised at how many folk do not, i was only thinking a week or two ago how it would sit nicely with your growing collection of instruments at the studio, it has an instantly identifiable sound of age and authenticity which makes me think of it with the Dulcimer and "little Organ" ? I wonder if you gave us all a clue as to the content of the next vlog James ? Well i think i have reasoned out the string arrangement, and possibly the charming contrivance for violin tuning Let me know if you have yet to figure it out, it`s quite a neat idea the piano stringing, and surprisingly has nothing in one respect or sense to do with the piano itself ? Thank you James, most entertaining, and you got my little grey cells working on this one. Kind regards Simon.
I wish I could do a video on a hurdy-gurdy! They aren't too easy to find, but if I see one I will do a video with it for sure! People have told me, and I think they are right, that the piano is set up strangely so that the tuning is more stable. Same with the violin, it's for tuning stability.
Look forward to you finding a Hurdy-gurdy, who knows if it`s for sale at the right price, and "clean" then it could be following you back to your studio; I`m wondering if they were more popular in Europe perhaps ? Now the puzzle of the violin tuning and piano stringing; yes i rather imagine you are correct particularly regarding the violin, but i believe there may be a little more to it: there appears to be a good deal of string isolation on the violin, whilst they are connected to the base of the body, it appears that they almost float above the rest of the body and finger board, they have been spread wider than normal and slightly flattened out, (that`s arc as opposed to pitch, ) thus enabling the space for the play wheels to contact the strings, and the mechanical fingering to have enough room to both fit and operate; and isolation from the wood of the body will enhance it`s tuning stability, particularly with regard to humidity and temperature - the interesting tuning mechanism with its weights, holders, length adjusters etc, together with the press button tuning mode, i think was to ease tuning and to keep hands away from the violin body where if one was to try to turn a tuning peg at the head of the violin, it would need a lot of force to unlock the wood to wood friction, one can imagine an inexperienced owner holding some part of the very delicate violin structure and components, and making the whole thing worse by damaging some part, it could well be that the example shown was a late version, hence all of the patents, with many improvements having taken place, particularly tuning, over it`s life ? Now the piano stringing: yes James i believe you are correct once again. Though i had not considered myself the even stringing on that symmetrical shaped harp would indeed even out stress loading, you are right and as you comment, keep it in tune for longer; but i think there is a far more interesting and fundamental reason for it being so. The paper ! ? let me explain, the paper is perhaps the weakest link in the whole chain when it is being used, paper has some strength but it is not like a steel disc upon a polyphon, if you imagine a piano keyboard, and where most of the notes will be in most tunes, they are very much centered upon the center of the keyboard, if there was to be a direct correlation between the keyboard and where on the paper the holes were to be cut, there would be a heck of a lot of holes close to one another right in the center of the paper, not just left to right but also front to back; this would have the potential of two holes tearing into one and other similar failures, it`s own mechanism being most likely to cause this, (if i am correct in believing it to be working on positive and or negative air pressure, over a reader head, possibly two one for the violin ?) particularly as i imagine the paper was not too thick (gsm wise) so as to enable one tune to be a manageable size and weight. - i wonder what the maximum duration was ? (retailer: "oh yes Sir, an hour or more, though you will have to hire a fork-lift-truck to load the reel sir !) So sorry this was rather a protracted read, hope some of it was interesting to you, some of it may even be correct ? who knows ? Enjoyed the Vlog thank you James, enjoyed the puzzle. All good wishes to you, regards Simon.
It struck me the day after writing this that there is a parallel which is widely known, that of the qwerty keyboard on an old mechanical typewriter - the most frequently used keys being spaced out away from the center, so as to prevent keys jamming when they travel to or away from the carriage.
The piano strings are in that order for two specific reasons. First, it keeps the tension even across the piano, something that can not be done with a conventional piano. Second, it makes the tuning of the piano more stable with a single U-shaped bridge rather than two separate bridges. Seasonal humidity changes effect the tuning more evenly. In regards to the violin tuning, traditional violins need to be tuned constantly, in most cases at least a touch-up every time they are played. By using weights the string tension is the same all of the time regardless of humidity changes. Again, this method could not be used on a traditional hand played violin. If either the piano or the violin went out of tune even slightly with each other it would be very obvious. A little further out of tune and it would be terrible. These machines were typically located in commercial locations in constant use, tuning stability was essential. I have a Violano currently in the shop undergoing restoration.
Robert Goodale I would say that there is probably not “even” tension across that “piano”. Less variation certainly but it is also a much less capable instrument than an actual piano. I would guess that this instrument was designed first as a mechanical violin but then market forces dictated that it needed to be more. Hence a small piano was designed. Again it was probably kept small for market considerations as these kinds of novelties had to compete for shelf space in the merchants’ store.
James, That is an amazingly beautiful sounding device. I have seen violin playing machines before but this is the best. That song I believe, is Charmaine or Charmaine, I not familiar with the spelling.. It's a song. "I wonder why you keep me waiting, Charmaine, Charmaine." I know someone will correct me, but it's still a wonderful reminder of a different age. Cheers, Rik Spector
the weight makes for constant tension, and therefore pitch. Pegs slip. You wouldn't want a customer to have to tune it, it would have been tuned by the person who installed it
The three things that affect the pitch of a string are (1) length, (2) mass, and (3) tension. The weights would give constant tension on the strings, such that even if a string stretched, which it will over time, it would not require retuning. The bridge "wiggling" would provide vibrato. Ingenious!
Thanks, James, for your detailed and passioned review of this incredible instrument. This has certainly been the most innovating thing amongst automatic musical instrument, with a world's record patents quantity, thanks to young inventor Henry Konrad Sandell
love to own one of these! Unique one-of-a-kind and distinctly belonging to a certain era. Totally sick and really interesting ! The other piano also looks wild! thanks James!
Sounds like it came straight off Tom Waits' Franks Wild Years album. Tom always had an ear for vintage, outmoded sounds and instruments from olden times.
I must be dreaming! I mean, how does someone come up with this idea and then how do they make all the pieces in a factory and then have it all put together? This can't really be possible, can it? But there it is! It really is astounding. And then to even think about having it play with vibrato and coming up with that part of it. Imagine owning it. You'd be having live music playing every night at home!! Great video, James! (I hope you do a video of that other piano you showed, too.)
JeeWeeD Are you old enough to remember that young British girl, Lena Zavaroni, who had a hit with e revival of that song the early ‘70s? I remember seeing her in Wonderama. I think you can find it on RUclips. Thinking of it though, it was pretty creepy to have a child sing “I’ll do anything for you, anything you want me to”.
Probably the string arrangement was to make it proprietary. You wouldn't be able to just put any roll in it, it had to be one made for this. Yes, one of the 'magic' things I also noticed was that the way the violin was set up, it was able to be used as 2 violins at the same time. Thank you!
"Be sure to put the paper back of contact roller." The player pianos I have seen have the paper spooling from the top of the top spool, down in front of the spools to the bottom one. It looks like they did it differently, hence the sign instructing to put the paper further back than the contact roller. That's just a guess.
James Pavel you should check it out the Viola Organista(Also Known As Claviol) invented by Leonardo Da Vinci. Try check it out this instrument on RUclips. It is a Viol combined with Keyboard.
@@ThePianoforever How about you try to show the RUclips Viola Organista Video to the piano store manager and ask them will they interested to build one?
If there was only a way to specify and execute pitch bends on the violin, I would consider this to be _still a useful instrument,_ even if electronic production of sound is much easier these days. It's just the lack of scoops into notes and portamento between them that makes this sound so robotic. Maybe a roller "fret" per string (or more than one to facilitate quick changes), rather than fixed levers? They wouldn't have to be quantized to any particular "fret position". This might even be mechanically simpler, although it would unfortunately make programming a lot harder because you would have an analog signal in what is basically a digital system.
What song is it playing thru it? Id like to know the name of the song its playing or can play thru it from back then and if u can find out that info about it even:) i think that it is cool that u found and made this video with this one in it and since the one i found thru me could not be played and where i found it at.
You should visit The Nethercutt Collection (www.nethercuttcollection.org/Collection.aspx) in Sylmar, California sometime. They have an entire room of Orchestrions and Nickelodians, plus grand pianos and the Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ, all of which are kept in playing condition. As a bonus, the museum also has a magnificent automobile collection, and admission is free!
@@Lucius_Chiaraviglio It'll take more than two to do it right. You need one for the piano, and then one for EACH STRING of the violin, because they are treated like separate instruments. Since I don't think the working range of the low G and high E overlap, you could use the same (split) keyboard for both, but you'll still need three keyboards just for the violin. Multiply that for the multi-violin models.
Amazing machine. In view of the numerous patents, that technology must have been a hot thing. But then the phonograph came along and made it all OBSOLETE.
Brilliant! The tensioning of the violin strings with weights is very stable! The pitch critically depens on string tension, and usually changes quite readily with changes in temperature and humidity, stretching as the string ages, and slippage of gears or friction pegs. But wrapping the strings around a pulley and using gravity to provide the tension is very stable. Whatever stretching or expansion/contraction occurs, the tension remains constant. It's a great design. Thanks for posting such an informative video of such a beautiful instrument! By the way, there were orchestrions with three violins, like this one: ruclips.net/video/YBzaSVbCWxM/видео.html
At the end was an ORCHESTRON. James, have you covered the Marantz PIANO-CORDER from the 80s? They were built in both uprights and grands, operated by a computer. There are various vids on youtube that feature the Pianocorders.
I love these! We have quite a number of rolls of music that accompany this. Any guidance in best way to share our interest in selling very reasonably to an owner? We sold ours and have no need for the music. Hope this is ok to post!!
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Can you imagine the work that went into the programming of one of those paper rolls back in the day? Not to mention the designing and building the actual instrument, itself... Whoever designed this was some kind of Genius and would probably be a master computer programmer if he were living today.
James, thank-you and congratulations for a totally engrossing and enjoyable video!
I'm not certain how they did it, but I know George Gershwin made piano rolls for Rhapsody in Blue. It really is fascinating.
I agree, it's amazing that people could invent such a complex, and beautiful machine.
It cannot play any more notes than a violinist can play. Think of a violinist pulling through bow across all 4 strings at the same time. That’s what deploying all 4 wheels at once is similar to.
@@whammond511 Unless you're using a BACH bow (or two conventional bows), you can't bow all four strings on a violin simultaneously. You have to sweep across the strings, sounding only two (which have to be adjacent unless you're bowing UNDER the strings, then you can play the E and G strings at the same time) at any given moment. In this sense, this exceeds the capabilities of a single violinist using standard techniques. Both the BACH bow and two-bow methods would have to be considered "extended techniques".
I was just about to write that the first time I heard a Violano was (yikes) 40 years ago at the Deansboro Musical Museum , and I can still hear it in my mind, playing "Charmaine" .... and then this started playing Charmaine & I almost fell off my chair !!! This one is playing it much much more beautifully. Now that I hear it again, I am feeling quite emotional - I was traveling with dear friends at the time, and both of them are long gone.
As someone mentioned, the stringing pattern on the piano was distribute the tension on the harp and to minimize the need for tuning. Same with the weights on the violin strings. Mills really did their homework when they engineered these. Some had two violins. All electrical rather than pneumatic like most players of the era. Thanks for a very thorough tour of this very nice machine!
Some had two violins? Wow, would love to see that!
ThePianoforever Yes indeed. They called it the Double Violano. The motor in the bottom is actually an AC motor coupled to a DC generator, since the Mills is powered by DC. Thanks for your response!
The stringing pattern is simply to make the piano portion as small possible. It has nothing to do with the tuning. A piano is put out of tune by 2 things; how much it is played and changes in humidity.
@@whammond511 The design balances the asymmetrical stringing of a regular piano, so as to minimize the action of changing environment on different length and tension of the strings. Bars full of people, bars empty that's a lot of change. The violin, weight don't change tension-temperature-humidity does.
James: a violin player can't sound like two violins playing at once
Paganini: I'm about to end this man's whole career
Or J. S. Bach. Check out his Partitas and Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin and for Unaccompanied Cello.
@@Lucius_Chiaraviglio Indeed, the art of counterpoint makes thing incredible possible.
It has such a nostalgic sound to it, it almost reminds me of the music used in those old 70s Czechoslovakian kids cartoons.... I wish I remberwd the company.
Wow, with the MIDI function, it could play an unlimited number of song so long as you edit the number of instruments. Since the unit has wireless MIDI function, you could play your own compositions on a MIDI keyboard and store the file on your cell phone or laptop or iPad. Fascinating.
I know something about these instruments. The Mills Novelty Company made and marketed Violanos between 1907 and 1930 and sold several thousand of them. Anyone servicing them would know to tune the piano at the old International Pitch A-435 because that's where the violin was set. The big chrome things at the left were weights that kept the strings at a constant tension, and the four buttons you see would depress the bow to play the violin string and the corresponding piano note so that tuning could be consistent. You mentioned "pneumatics" but there are none, the entire instrument ran on electricity. The holes in the roll would expose electric contacts to the tracker bar instead of allowing air to activate a valve, and this was technologically advanced in the early 20th Century. Someone in the comments suggested the vibrato was always on, but this also was controlled by the roll, to better replicate the human touch on the strings. The revolving celluloid bows had a rosin block above them and a tray below to catch the dust. I have serviced several of these instruments during my career as a piano technician in the Midwest United States and I recognize them as a technological marvel of the early 20th Century. One of these units I prepared for an auction in about 1981 and the coin mechanism had been converted to accept quarters. It sold for $14,000 and I got to follow it to the new owner and continue maintenance for a period of years. It never needed much from year to year.
That is just absolutely...I have no words! I would love to have a time machine and go back and meet whoever designed it, AND the folks who built it, to shake their hands and congratulate them on their ingenuity. I'm blown away. James, you are amazing; you come up with the greatest content. But, being a bit of a Luddite, I have no idea how this machine would be able to read a digital file and convert it into music. It's mechanical, not electronic, yeah? I'm boggled.
By the way, I'm sure you were relieved, as were we all, that the Grand Organ at Notre Dame Cathedral survived the fire. I watched a short video on it. It is massive, and apparently, although many of the pipes have been replaced over the years, some date from medieval times. Phenomenal instrument.
My understanding is that the instrument has had some sort of controller installed that tells the electric solenoids to activate via MIDI. Not 100% sure, though.
My dad tried to buy an old machine like this and fix it up, but some big fat dealer outbid him and got it. He, like my dad, most likely knew what it was worth refurbished and wasn’t going to let it go but I like my dad he had the money to spare. Great video.
Ahh! Once again an incredible display of mechanical art! Can't begin to get my head around where I would start. Just remarkable! Love this kind of stuff. Thanks for sharing!
I saw a sister instrument to this in London in 1984. These machines have always fascinated me and as a child, I was frightened of them. :) But they are incredible instruments. Thanks.
I like the little rosin applicator and rosin dust shield. I'm more impressed with the engineering than the musical output. The violin sounds very organ-like with the mechanical always-on vibrato (stylistically typical of 20th century violin playing), especially when the multiple strings play and the multiple violin"s" are playing with vibrato-in-unison (impossible with real violins played by people), very much like the organs you hear on TV sitcoms when there is a funeral. They have one at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, but I doubt they let anyone turn it on. You probably have the best-preserved and best-running/tuned example around in this video. And how cool that they can install MIDI and keep this thing period-authentic playing and looking. Thanks!
Greetings from the UK. Wow, Thank you for sharing James. I've always had a admiration for mechanical music so to see some of these rare machines is a real treat. The ingenuity, skill and cooperation that it must have taken place to come up with the idea and make it a reality is breath-taking. I really look forward to watching more of your posts.
Glad you enjoyed the video! Got lots of cool stuff coming up, hope you like that too!
That black motor in the lower cabinet is called a "rotary converter". Before transistors and diodes were invented, the only way you could convert AC power into DC power was by using an "RC". Its just an AC motor that spins a DC generator and the DC power is used to run the machine. Today we would just use a bridge rectifier which has no moving parts.
Diodes pre-date transistors by decades. They were just big tubes that looked exactly like the "real" components they're feeding power to, except that if you look really close, they've hardly got anything in them by comparison. That said, they may have found the motor/generator method to be more robust and reliable in an apparatus that has to be transported frequently. Also, rectifier tubes probably get hotter than the motor-generator combo, and you do have to wait for them to cool before moving equipment, or risk breaking the elements. If there are no OTHER tube-type elements (other than the light bulb), then it makes sense not to add any for power conversion.
These wonderful machines are probably the forerunners to the Jukebox. It really played Charmaine well - an old favourite of mine. Truly fascinating machine.
Way cool! This reminds me of a old museum in Underground Atlanta when I was in college. It was a warehouse filled with these type of mecanical music instruments. They were for fairs and entertainments. They made money 5 to 25 cents at a time. Like the one with the stained glass.
Regarding certain structural peculiarities: I believe there is a sound engineering basis. Specifically, the lower pitched strings may have been placed near the center of the sound board to improve bass response while still keeping the cabinet rather compact. As for the tuning system of the violin strings: I think you are correct about it being more stable than a standard violin tuning setup. The arrangement in the machine is basically a constant-tension design rather than a constant-length design, and would be much less sensitive to slight dimensional shifts caused by temperature, humidity, or slippage. Thus, the instrument would tend to stay in tune much longer.
The little tray under the turning wheels is a nice touch.
The wheels must be rosined up just like a normal bow and that tray must be there to catch the dust.
The Phononliszt-Violina contains a piano and three violins. Please take a look at Alexander Buchner's "Encyclopaedia of music instruments" (I have one exemplar in French and know that there's in German, too; I'm not sure if there is a translation to English).
Love your videos dude. Your passion is inspiring. Thanks for all the time you take to share your excitement with us all the while teaching us about things we would otherwise know nothing about.
10:24 It sounds like a reminder that the rolls are spooled forward of the tracker bar, instead of it being the standard way, so you have to insert them accordingly.
gantmj I agree. That is exactly the reason. “Contacts” and “Tracker” mean the same in this context. I would suspect that “Tracker” or “Tracker Bar” may have a patented name by some company.
Yup, "back of" means "behind".
@@whammond511 Trailing fingers for electrical contact thru the holes in the paper. If you just rewind like a player they would tear up the song sheet. Bad.
Another "automaton"? In the days before the jukebox revolution, I imagine this was a more common form of entertainment. I have a collection of music box music from the Porter company and every time I listen to them, I fall in love with the sound over and over again. Wonderful explanation of this marvelous musical device James. Thank you.
Delightful and enchanting!
I was dancing a lovely waltz to Charmaine in my head.
These unusual finds are very interesting, James. I wish you'd played the other one a little for those of us not able to visit.
Looking forward to what wonderment you happen upon next.
I have another video on the other piano, stay tuned for that!
@@ThePianoforever I am surprised the Charmaine song is that old. I only knew the James Last versions from 1978 and I think 2007: ruclips.net/video/u31YyCXuD00/видео.html
It plays: "Charmaine Waltz" 4:40
10:25, I assume it means that the paper needs to be BEHIND the contact roller for tension or something. It's a beautifully crafted work of art. The polished aluminum with the patent badge, the birds eye maple and the light, it's all absolutely gorgeous to look at. Even the parts below, which aren't meant to be on display, look well enough to BE on display!
I thought they meant that it would need to go behind the contact roller so that the contacts could read the roll.
I love it. I wish we built more things like these now. Thank you for making interesting and informative videos. I also really loved the comment you made "it wiggles", all I could imagine was a tiny mechanical bee playing music the violin.
Thanks so much for your time and explaining this wonderful instrument.
Those are really neat machines. Clark's Trading Post in Lincoln NH has several of these types of machines/ fairground organs. Hope you can see those at some time.
I saw one of these near traverse city Michigan at the Music house museum
Facinating, you would enjoy the Music House Museum in Traverse City, Michigan.
That is one of the better sounding Vilano's I have heard on RUclips, most are not properly tuned and end up not sounding very good. The Mills novelty company made a lot of interesting musical machines over the years, this being the most complex, but they also made some really cool and interesting Jukeboxes in the 1930's such as the 1937 "Studio", they also made a "Movie Jukebox" called the Pan-O-Ram in the 1940's.
The Piano Strings presumably have a "C" & "C#" Side (Divided into Whole Tone rows) like many ranks of Organ Pipes.
Why? because it looks cool! seriously, though I think the weight method for tuning eliminates peg slipping, and the piano is strung like that because it makes for a more stable frame that doesn't need to be engineered for different tension stresses from one side to the other. Plus it looks cool!
I hadn't thought of that, yes tuning stability would be an important factor for these. Wouldn't want to have to tune it every other month!
@@ThePianoforever Tuning stability is a problem in pianos that get moved, and this thing probably got moved a lot in its first few years of service. Also, it sometimes matters exactly where you put the end of a string on the sound board, and this may have allowed them to work around an unfortunate alignment of "dead spot" and string.
You should visit "House on the Rock" in Wisconsin. They have players that take up whole rooms.
Mostly fake built up stuff and almost no maintenance unfortunately.
So this is actually owned by someone and updated to use a midi for modern tunes? Wow, it must have cost a fortune. I've seen these in museums on youtube before, but you seem to be in someone's home. Oh, Bill Kap's Pianos. If I ever get to Ohio I will look up Kap's Pianos for sure. Very nice video. Thanks.
Greetings James, so now all we have to do is puzzle out the reason for the odd string arrangement upon the piano harp ? and the curious but fascinating tuning method for the violin, interesting to see the presence of a rosin block (they really did think of everything)
Pleased that you know what a hurdy-gurdy is, you would be surprised at how many folk do not, i was only thinking a week or two ago how it would sit nicely with your growing collection of instruments at the studio, it has an instantly identifiable sound of age and authenticity which makes me think of it with the Dulcimer and "little Organ" ?
I wonder if you gave us all a clue as to the content of the next vlog James ?
Well i think i have reasoned out the string arrangement, and possibly the charming contrivance for violin tuning Let me know if you have yet to figure it out, it`s quite a neat idea the piano stringing, and surprisingly has nothing in one respect or sense to do with the piano itself ?
Thank you James, most entertaining, and you got my little grey cells working on this one.
Kind regards Simon.
I wish I could do a video on a hurdy-gurdy! They aren't too easy to find, but if I see one I will do a video with it for sure!
People have told me, and I think they are right, that the piano is set up strangely so that the tuning is more stable. Same with the violin, it's for tuning stability.
Look forward to you finding a Hurdy-gurdy, who knows if it`s for sale at the right price, and "clean" then it could be following you back to your studio; I`m wondering if they were more popular in Europe perhaps ?
Now the puzzle of the violin tuning and piano stringing; yes i rather imagine you are correct particularly regarding the violin, but i believe there may be a little more to it: there appears to be a good deal of string isolation on the violin, whilst they are connected to the base of the body, it appears that they almost float above the rest of the body and finger board, they have been spread wider than normal and slightly flattened out, (that`s arc as opposed to pitch, ) thus enabling the space for the play wheels to contact the strings, and the mechanical fingering to have enough room to both fit and operate; and isolation from the wood of the body will enhance it`s tuning stability, particularly with regard to humidity and temperature - the interesting tuning mechanism with its weights, holders, length adjusters etc, together with the press button tuning mode, i think was to ease tuning and to keep hands away from the violin body where if one was to try to turn a tuning peg at the head of the violin, it would need a lot of force to unlock the wood to wood friction, one can imagine an inexperienced owner holding some part of the very delicate violin structure and components, and making the whole thing worse by damaging some part, it could well be that the example shown was a late version, hence all of the patents, with many improvements having taken place, particularly tuning, over it`s life ?
Now the piano stringing: yes James i believe you are correct once again. Though i had not considered myself the even stringing on that symmetrical shaped harp would indeed even out stress loading, you are right and as you comment, keep it in tune for longer; but i think there is a far more interesting and fundamental reason for it being so.
The paper ! ? let me explain, the paper is perhaps the weakest link in the whole chain when it is being used, paper has some strength but it is not like a steel disc upon a polyphon, if you imagine a piano keyboard, and where most of the notes will be in most tunes, they are very much centered upon the center of the keyboard, if there was to be a direct correlation between the keyboard and where on the paper the holes were to be cut, there would be a heck of a lot of holes close to one another right in the center of the paper, not just left to right but also front to back; this would have the potential of two holes tearing into one and other similar failures, it`s own mechanism being most likely to cause this, (if i am correct in believing it to be working on positive and or negative air pressure, over a reader head, possibly two one for the violin ?) particularly as i imagine the paper was not too thick (gsm wise) so as to enable one tune to be a manageable size and weight. - i wonder what the maximum duration was ? (retailer: "oh yes Sir, an hour or more, though you will have to hire a fork-lift-truck to load the reel sir !)
So sorry this was rather a protracted read, hope some of it was interesting to you, some of it may even be correct ? who knows ?
Enjoyed the Vlog thank you James, enjoyed the puzzle.
All good wishes to you, regards Simon.
It struck me the day after writing this that there is a parallel which is widely known, that of the qwerty keyboard on an old mechanical typewriter - the most frequently used keys being spaced out away from the center, so as to prevent keys jamming when they travel to or away from the carriage.
This instrument needs to have its own RUclips channel!
The piano strings are in that order for two specific reasons. First, it keeps the tension even across the piano, something that can not be done with a conventional piano. Second, it makes the tuning of the piano more stable with a single U-shaped bridge rather than two separate bridges. Seasonal humidity changes effect the tuning more evenly. In regards to the violin tuning, traditional violins need to be tuned constantly, in most cases at least a touch-up every time they are played. By using weights the string tension is the same all of the time regardless of humidity changes. Again, this method could not be used on a traditional hand played violin. If either the piano or the violin went out of tune even slightly with each other it would be very obvious. A little further out of tune and it would be terrible. These machines were typically located in commercial locations in constant use, tuning stability was essential. I have a Violano currently in the shop undergoing restoration.
Interesting observations.
Robert Goodale I would say that there is probably not “even” tension across that “piano”. Less variation certainly but it is also a much less capable instrument than an actual piano.
I would guess that this instrument was designed first as a mechanical violin but then market forces dictated that it needed to be more. Hence a small piano was designed. Again it was probably kept small for market considerations as these kinds of novelties had to compete for shelf space in the merchants’ store.
James,
That is an amazingly beautiful sounding device.
I have seen violin playing machines before but this is the best.
That song I believe, is Charmaine or Charmaine,
I not familiar with the spelling.. It's a song.
"I wonder why you keep me waiting, Charmaine, Charmaine."
I know someone will correct me, but it's still a wonderful reminder of a different age.
Cheers,
Rik Spector
I really enjoyed the song! It was very pretty, and it really showcased the beauty of this instrument.
the weight makes for constant tension, and therefore pitch. Pegs slip. You wouldn't want a customer to have to tune it, it would have been tuned by the person who installed it
WOW! Thank you for this video! I would’ve never seen one, if it wasn’t for this video! 👍👍👍
Simply Amazing ...
Wow! I've never seen a player piano and violin! That's awesome!!!
The three things that affect the pitch of a string are (1) length, (2) mass, and (3) tension. The weights would give constant tension on the strings, such that even if a string stretched, which it will over time, it would not require retuning. The bridge "wiggling" would provide vibrato. Ingenious!
Thanks, James, for your detailed and passioned review of this incredible instrument. This has certainly been the most innovating thing amongst automatic musical instrument, with a world's record patents quantity, thanks to young inventor Henry Konrad Sandell
love to own one of these! Unique one-of-a-kind and distinctly belonging to a certain era. Totally sick and really interesting ! The other piano also looks wild! thanks James!
Sounds like it came straight off Tom Waits' Franks Wild Years album. Tom always had an ear for vintage, outmoded sounds and instruments from olden times.
I must be dreaming! I mean, how does someone come up with this idea and then how do they make all the pieces in a factory and then have it all put together? This can't really be possible, can it? But there it is! It really is astounding. And then to even think about having it play with vibrato and coming up with that part of it. Imagine owning it. You'd be having live music playing every night at home!! Great video, James! (I hope you do a video of that other piano you showed, too.)
Many more to come from the same shop
@@ThePianoforever Great!
As my father used to say “Smart people didn’t just happen”. Engineering with a pencil and paper built a lot of things in the past.
/me starts singing softly: "Put another nickel in the nickelodeon..."
JeeWeeD Are you old enough to remember that young
British girl, Lena Zavaroni, who had a hit with e revival of that song the early ‘70s? I remember seeing her in Wonderama. I think you can find it on RUclips. Thinking of it though, it was pretty creepy to have a child sing “I’ll do anything for you, anything you want me to”.
Probably the string arrangement was to make it proprietary. You wouldn't be able to just put any roll in it, it had to be one made for this. Yes, one of the 'magic' things I also noticed was that the way the violin was set up, it was able to be used as 2 violins at the same time. Thank you!
"Be sure to put the paper back of contact roller." The player pianos I have seen have the paper spooling from the top of the top spool, down in front of the spools to the bottom one. It looks like they did it differently, hence the sign instructing to put the paper further back than the contact roller. That's just a guess.
Probably introduced during the silent film era and perhaps in a very limited production run. ?
When it comes to the silent film era, I know of no greater expert than yourself. Thank you for coming by, it was great to see you the other day.
What is the name of that tune? Ah, I should've waited until the end when he mentioned it, "Charmaine".
wow,what a nice instrument.
That thing is crazy.
I did see a Keyboard Version of one of these Instruments in a book. I believe it didn't have the piano, it had multiple Violins.
On RUclips there's a video about that machine, I don't remember what's the name, but you'll find it in Wintergatan's channel ;-D
...Here it is, it's the Phonoliszt Violina ;-D
ruclips.net/video/xs0mP2cOmJs/видео.html
James Pavel you should check it out the Viola Organista(Also Known As Claviol) invented by Leonardo Da Vinci. Try check it out this instrument on RUclips. It is a Viol combined with Keyboard.
Those are really cool, and I would love to play one. Only thing is, where do you find them? 😯
@@ThePianoforever Poland
@@ThePianoforever How about you try to show the RUclips Viola Organista Video to the piano store manager and ask them will they interested to build one?
How very interesting!
Your channel is very is very enjoyable
Thank you!
I am in love
Haha how do I get one
If there was only a way to specify and execute pitch bends on the violin, I would consider this to be _still a useful instrument,_ even if electronic production of sound is much easier these days. It's just the lack of scoops into notes and portamento between them that makes this sound so robotic. Maybe a roller "fret" per string (or more than one to facilitate quick changes), rather than fixed levers? They wouldn't have to be quantized to any particular "fret position". This might even be mechanically simpler, although it would unfortunately make programming a lot harder because you would have an analog signal in what is basically a digital system.
It's obviously doable today with computer-controlled servos, but that loses the beauty of a purely electro-mechanical system.
the violin sounds like i'm playing using VL-70m's violin tone with a keyboard…
What song is it playing thru it? Id like to know the name of the song its playing or can play thru it from back then and if u can find out that info about it even:) i think that it is cool that u found and made this video with this one in it and since the one i found thru me could not be played and where i found it at.
I believe the song is "Charmaigne". The owner says it at the end of the video.
@@ThePianoforever "Charmaine" before Mantovani slithered it into syrup...
You should visit The Nethercutt Collection (www.nethercuttcollection.org/Collection.aspx) in Sylmar, California sometime. They have an entire room of Orchestrions and Nickelodians, plus grand pianos and the Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ, all of which are kept in playing condition. As a bonus, the museum also has a magnificent automobile collection, and admission is free!
Too bad (or maybe it does) the MIDI add-on didn't allow for playing manually.
Even if it wasn't put in for that purpose, if you hooked up MIDI keyboards to it (2 would be required to do it right), it would.
@@Lucius_Chiaraviglio It'll take more than two to do it right. You need one for the piano, and then one for EACH STRING of the violin, because they are treated like separate instruments. Since I don't think the working range of the low G and high E overlap, you could use the same (split) keyboard for both, but you'll still need three keyboards just for the violin. Multiply that for the multi-violin models.
Amazing machine. In view of the numerous patents, that technology must have been a hot thing. But then the phonograph came along and made it all OBSOLETE.
Phonograph records already existed by that time, but the ones available in the early 1900s were rather bad.
Brilliant! The tensioning of the violin strings with weights is very stable! The pitch critically depens on string tension, and usually changes quite readily with changes in temperature and humidity, stretching as the string ages, and slippage of gears or friction pegs. But wrapping the strings around a pulley and using gravity to provide the tension is very stable. Whatever stretching or expansion/contraction occurs, the tension remains constant. It's a great design. Thanks for posting such an informative video of such a beautiful instrument!
By the way, there were orchestrions with three violins, like this one: ruclips.net/video/YBzaSVbCWxM/видео.html
I think they might have changed the placement of the piano strings to make it more visually pleasing, more balanced, more symmetrical.
This Instrument is in Fact an Early Computer, a Music Computer.
great video, you make a great video host as well.
I have a great amount of fun on the road.
Блестящий!
Bill kept his toys in tip top shape, hmmm, howz 'bout a banjo?
his caliope was loud
At the end was an ORCHESTRON.
James, have you covered the Marantz PIANO-CORDER from the 80s?
They were built in both uprights and grands, operated by a computer.
There are various vids on youtube that feature the Pianocorders.
I don't remember seeing a banjo at the shop! And yes, the band organ was super loud!
I can't process the complexity of this instrument.
It is quite a fascinating one, indeed.
Whats the name of the first song!!!
I believe the song is called Charmaine.
@@ThePianoforever It is.
I love these! We have quite a number of rolls of music that accompany this. Any guidance in best way to share our interest in selling very reasonably to an owner? We sold ours and have no need for the music. Hope this is ok to post!!
They placed the Bass string in the middle so that the strings didnt have to overlap.
I find it funny that it's literally just violin in there.
have you seen the one with 3 violins in it...?
It’s the mills violin
He's loosing it. I am too. It really is a little bit beyond ----
yes it sounds like a real violin It is a real violin XD
This ‘nickelodeon’ obviously frees the performers to go cut the audiences’ hair whilst keeping customers calm with high quality music making. 🙄
🔥 🦩 😆