Monday, February 19, 2007

piano bar #1


the bars in Dawson all have pianos, each with its own character. this one is from Bombay Peggy's, where Barnacle was playing last week. it can be played as a regular piano or set up as a player piano--though i'm not sure the player scroll is working anymore. there should be a tracker tube with a vacuum behind the music roll; then when the air comes in through the perforation in the roll, ruining this vacuum, the increased air pressure opens the valve & plays a note. very nifty...and popular during the Gold Rush era. weirdly enough the only player piano i've seen in action in the past few years was at EuroDisney, where there's one tinkling away in their Wild West Haunted House.

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