Fotoplayer Fridays: What the heck is a Harp Guitar?
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- Опубліковано 8 чер 2023
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Want to learn more about mechanical music? Check out the Reblitz-Bowers Encyclopedia of American Coin-operated Pianos and Orchestrions and Related Instruments book.
books.google.com/books/about/... - Наука та технологія
Actually, I know what a harp guitar is but I'm intrigued to discover how it is related to your Fotoplayer...
Really enjoy your vids Nate, keep ‘em coming👍
There's more in the works!
Very nice job! Your work always looks factory even when your adding new features!
Thank you! I like the challenge of making things look original.
I'm so excited; i just can't wait for the percussion video😋
Great job Nate!
Thank you! This was the last big hurdle for this years-long project.
Man, this is somewhat a lot like working on a giant cuckoo clock incorporated into a piano. the pneumatics look a lot like cuckoo clock bellows, and like pneumatics in antique Emilian Wehrle trumpeter clocks of the 1800's. Excellent work, Nate!
Yes, the technology is quite similar! Thank you so much for checking it out!
Yeah uh it’s at 1 am for me I can’t stay up that late so I’ll watch it in the morning 😂
Nate, great work sir, what an amazing instrument. It'll be fun to join along as you go, cheers! Adams Family theme huh, sounds damn good!
Thank you for sticking with me! I'm really happy with how the "Harp Guitar" sounds.
What happened with the new video? Yesterday was Friday :( .I just cant wait more for the percussion video.
Very nice instrument and something worth resorting. Great video2x 👍
It's been a wild ride.
@@nateoutsidethevacuum Thats the fun part. 👍👍
Thanks, Nate. Each time I watch one of your videos, it's like I'm attending a master's class in pneumatic construction, operation, and restoration.
Hey Greg, that's very kind of you! I'll keep at it.
Fabulous channel ! We have two theatre organs that have had similar butchery undertaken on them to restore for our museum over the next few years, annoying when people take the trouble to make such awful changes as yours previously had.
I feel your pain! That person's careless butchery has made for hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars of frustrating work. But I keep telling myself it'll all be worth it!
Great Video Nate I Enjoyed It 😊
Thank you! I'm glad.
Hi, Nathan. I just watched your series on restoring player pianos and enjoyed it very much! Many, many moons ago, my grandparents had a player piano with a similar attachment to what you called a "harp guitar" and they called it the "rinkie-tink" sound. Oh, how my grandfather HATED that sound, but then again, he hated just about everything! My grandmother used to use the rinkie-tink sound just to piss off my grandfather whenever they were feuding about something!! To this day I still believe that I got my evil sense of humor from her!! :) I miss that player piano almost as much as I miss my grandmother! My grandfather, not so much. I've "acquired" a total of 4 players over the past 40-or-so years, several of which I was told worked, and paid a lot of $$ for, but alas some people in this world are not exactly honest. I haven't given up my quest. Watching your videos has given me the confidence to undertake restoring my present player. It sorta works, but, like the one in your restoration series, I have to pump the pedals with a vengeance to get it to work, and even then it barely activates the hammers enough to make an audible sound. It was also electrified, but the motor for that doesn't work either. I wish that I had found your channel sooner, but then again, I wish I was 30 again, too! I would have gladly offered the three non-working players to you to scavenge whatever parts you wanted. Not knowing about you, they each made one HELL of a bonfire! As much as that just killed me to do, I had no other options. To me, burning a player piano was nothing short of sacrilege, but it seemed like the only respectful way to put them out of their misery- something like respectfully burning an old flag. 😁
Anyway, keep the videos coming, and I'll keep watching!
Thank you!
Wish you lived closer, Nate....still have my grandmother's Caldwell player and it needs to be restored....I'll never be able to do it on my own.
Not with that attitude!
I think Joe Rinaudo's Fotoplayer has a wooden xylophone under the keybed. Watching you drill into the case of the piano had my blood pressure so high, I 100% feel the stress of doing that! I never knew that American style Fotoplayers didn't have a sustain pneumatic built in, I remember seeing one in a museum in Germany that had one. I'm still going to add a sustain pneumatic to my piano since I've never gotten to have one in a player piano before, and I do what it so be able to play the piano to the best of its ability even without me sitting there controlling it. I love how the American Fotoplayers had the switches in such an easy location and man, they are fun to push. Unfortunately, I can't get my hands on one of those parts so I'm going to be making my own version that will actually hang under the keybed just out of sight. I bought a bunch of original African Mahogany reed organ stops that have porcelain engraved caps that will be perfect for toggling the instruments I plan on adding. If you don't mind me asking, how do you get newer wood to look like the old, fine grain wood of the original parts of the case? I want to have the cabinet behind my piano look as much like the piano as possible but the wood is hard to mimic. The wood is African Mahogany, just like the organ stops if that helps at all. Wonderful video as always, Nate! I always get excited for these. :)
Yes, Joe Rinaudo's Style 20 has a xylophone that he built and added to it.
You might try dye stains to color match the wood, or aerosol toner. Color matching is always an experiment.
@@nateoutsidethevacuum Should be interesting since I current don’t know what the wood of my piano looks like due to the finish cracking and wrinkling away. Hopefully it’s nice. Thanks for the advice! (Hey that rhymed!)
I like the Joe rinaudo's fotoplayer, Nate's one and the 45 style
@@elmundode3918 I can’t seem to find anywhere as to what dictated the number associated with the model of Fotoplayer, they appear to all be in multiples of 5 for some reason. Do you know what the number represented in the model?
Does this operate using an electric motor to pump air that moves the parts? I put silent movies up on UA-cam and Dailymotion and use quite a bit of Fotoplayer music to soundtrack the movies. Fotoplayer music is perfect period music for WWI era silents.
Yes, it uses a suction pump to power the player system, and a blower for the organ.
You're very generous with some of the handy tricks you showed. There's a mid 20's car hidden in one of the last pics, curious what it is?
Regards
Chuck
I'm glad you're finding some tips and tricks along the way.
The car is a 1927 Chevrolet sedan. I sold it to make room for more pianos.
With all those subtle jokes you will make an amazing dad, if you are not one already, which would explain.
Thank you!
Here I am again!! Can I suggest Simichrome for your metal polishing.
I have been an Antique dealer for years and have always liked Simichrome
much more. I think they will send you a sample free..at least they used to.
Still amazed by your work!!
I inherited the Brasso. Once I use it up I may try your suggestion.
I have a 1927 player that has been in the family all these years. It’s in the basement of my house that I’m selling and knowone wants it. I was going to dismantle it and reuse the soundboard. It’s a shame as it sounds so good. But I wonder if there are any particular parts I could save and also when I get down to the plate, how heavy is that and could I take a grinder and cut it up so I could carry it up the stairs.
Good luck!
Well, that wasn't at all what I expected but it was most enjoyable all the same. Thank you Nate. Roll on the drum episodes. (See what I did there?)
I'm curious what you'd call a harp guitar! Wondering where they got the term from.
@@nateoutsidethevacuum A harp guitar is a six string with a big extension to the sound box for several harp strings which run roughly parallel to the guitar's neck. The harp strings are used for extra bass notes. New Age guitarist/electronic musician Michael Hedges, amongst others, revived interest in them during the 'eighties.
Harp guitars were first made at the end of the nineteenth century and continue to be made by independent luthiers; they're not especially rare and many variations exist. Have a look for Pat Metheny's Pikasso guitar for the most extreme example - I think it might appeal to you! - and for harp guitarist Stephen Bennett for virtuoso performances.
When's the next episode coming?
I'm not sure if it was original, but Joe Rinaudo's Style 200 has a harp guitar. Also, the kazoo variant looks like it I tried to make a custom photo player out of a player piano.
Yes, Joe Rinaudo added a custom Harp Guitar to his Style 20. He designed his to pivot at the same point the muffler does.
I don't believe in cancel culture, other than the kazoo piano.
Smooooooth!
Phew! I'm still learning so much with - and after - each new upload.
Nate.....Did they ever make Player Upright Grands???
I've seen some player pianos labeled as such, yes. They were also sometimes called cabinet grands. Either way they're simply upright pianos.
Do you do Military Band Organs too?
I don't, sorry!
@nateoutsidethevacuum it's okay. Maybe perhaps give it some thought in the future since many older organ technicians who also specialize in player pianos, nickelodeon, orchestrations are retiring/passing away. I'm sure you heard of Art Reblitz for instance he used to do service trips and care for the 146 in Pueblo and we are now without a permanent caretaker since he only takes clients who come to his shop and bring their instruments.
Can your fotoplayer play “Vampire Penguins” by “Worm Quartet”
If there's a roll for it, sure!
Sound a bit muffled (by the muffler rail?).
Agreed, I had to crank up both the computer sound level to max as well as the YT player sound to max.
The muffler rail was a bit quiet for what I'm used to, though it was also brand new felt so with time it will become louder. The rail is also meant to make way for the more quiet pipes in the Fotoplayer so you can actually hear them instead of just the piano with some background noise.
I'm sorry I didn't explain it better. The muffler is supposed to be more of a mute.
Boing
I believe this piano orchestrion also uses the harp guitar, you can see the bar go down:
ua-cam.com/video/GPrsEc3Kp0Y/v-deo.html
It does, though this nickelodeon is actually partially a build up orchestrion since all of the instruments besides the piano and the rail were added by someone who wanted to make an orchestrion, similar to what I'm doing right now. Seeburg instruments almost always had a harp guitar (more commonly known as a tack rail) and this one is a modified Seeburg C nickelodeon. I think Nate meant that no American Fotoplayers had these types of rails other than the style 15, since many nickelodeons and orchestrions did include them.
@@masklavier Ah I see, I wish you luck with your projects!
What's wrong? I really like your fotoplayer videos, so. Please i wanna see the percussion video 😢.
It's in the works, thank you for your excitement!
@@nateoutsidethevacuum ok