Eastonola key movement and Grunert Hupfeld photos
Hello all. I am new to this forum having only just bought my pianola. I have got an Eastonola pianola which looks mostly in original condition. I have got quite a few questions about how things work, but as I use it more, the more I find out. One thing that does make me wonder is this. When I am playing a pianola roll, are the piano keys supposed to go up and down with the music or stay still ? On mine they stay still. I have not got a lot of experience with this type of instrument, but the ones I have watched on youtube all the keys move along with the music. All the other bits seem to be doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing and the music sounds fine. Any hints or tips would be gratefully recieved. Simon. :)

Hi Simon and welcome to the site :) You will find a great wealth of knowhow here ,as there are some very experianced people (not me , i think i ask the most questions...lol) Glad to hear you got yourself a player , you will have lots of times with enjoyment.In regards to the keys , no not all players have moving keys.I have a Hupfeld and the keys dont move on mine either.It depends on what brand of action was put into the piano. Once you get settled here , make sure you add some pics as we love to see what other have. Are you planing on collecting more? , do you have a roll collection as well? ANy other questions you have , just post away as we here are more then happy help out where we can. Regards Daniel :)

Hi Daniel. I have always wanted a pianola, and when I saw the one I bought I just had to have it. It was an ebay purchase but I think I fell lucky with it. It works well, the case is in good condition and it had 66 rolls of music with it. It had been in the same family for over 50 years, and they had it second hand ! It has a suppliers name transfered on it, Taylors and Son of Walsall. So it has always been a local instrument to me. All this for £100. Bargain ! Just need to get it tuned soon now it has settled. I will post some pictures when I get round to taking some. Oh, no I am not going to collect pianolas as I don't have enough room. Simon.

Hi Simon, Some keys fall, some don't. personally I like them to fall. You can adjust them to fall if you wish, but it will affect the feel of the keys for hand playing. There are a few methods, a small weight front of centre pin of the key, adjusting the punchings on the centre pin rail (add or subtract) or attaching wires from the capstan to the sticker, (I wouldnt recommend the last one) Or simply enjoy it as it was built. In Europe it was unpopular (vulgar) for the keys to fall, they say it saves unnecessary wear on the moving parts. But in America falling keys added to the novelty value and were very popular. For more information on the player action, I recommend visiting John Tuttle's Player Care site. Welcome to the forum :) Paul

Hi Simon, I have a Grunert Hupfeld player piano and when it was restored for me I had weights put on the keys as I like to see the keys fall, vulgar or not, for me it enhances the performance of the piano roll! Suppose it's all a personal taste. I have taken a couple of photographs for you so you can see the weights, but am not sure how I send them to this post so I'll have to ask Neil. Help needed! Christine Robinson

Hi Christine Great to hear from you - would love to see your pictures. These are the instructions I posted a year or so ago - they must have been OK as they resulted in a load more pictures. I have Adam to thank for telling me how to do it, with a bit of help from my teenage kids. So here goes:- I saved the picture on my PC as normal from my digital camera.. Then I opened up imageshack on http://imageshack.us/ You don't have to register or anything - just click upload and find your picture using the browse function. It only takes a few seconds to upload after you click on 'Host it' This gives you get a variety of options - I used 'hotlink for forums 1' which is the first option. Copy the URL by right clicking as normal and paste it on the message. The URL will appear on your message just as script - but when you press preview the picture will appear. The imageshack website will even give you options to make sure it is about the right size, although you can do this using a simple photo editing programme before you save it. I know it sounds complicated - but it really only takes a minute or two - just have your message open on a new page ready to paste the picture URL to avoid getting confused. Look forward to those pictures Cheers Neil

Hi all, Well I'm not sure if I've done this correctly. My son, who is 300 miles away at university, has helped me with Neil's instructions as when I tried to copy the image it was much too big! Anyway hope you can see the image of one of my pianos. In fact if you want to turn off the keys from moving up and down there is a wooden lever under the keyboard. I'll try and send another photo, this time more of a close-up of the piano. Christine

Well that worked so he's another photo! Christine

Beautiful, nice restoration work. I recently repaired an identical model, one of the most interesting designs of any player i've come across. I particularly like the wind motor design on these Hupfelds, and the ease of valve access. Paul

Well Done Christine Lovely pictures and a beautiful instrument. Now you have to post a video on Youtube :) I was working on one of these with our local piano technician last year, but unfortunately his workshop was flooded last summer and it was destroyed. It had the same Hupfeld player mechanism - lots of metal bits!, but the piano was called 'Langham', and looked to me to be English made. I wonder if the player mechanisms were imported from Germany and installed over here? Neil

Thanks for sharing the picture , it looks just fantastic.....what a beatuiful instrument :D

Grunert Hupfeld
Hi All, Here’s another photo of my Grunert Hupfeld. It was taken at one of my ‘Player Piano Group’ meetings. Julian Dyer is pedalling using the all important player-piano levers, and Adam Ramet is in the background awaiting his turn. They, as you know, are extremely knowledgeable about everything regarding player-pianos, and great pianolists too! Regarding the ‘Player Piano Group’, it will be our 50th year in 2009. We are hoping to do something special, so keep a look out on our web page www.pianolasociety.com/ Christine Robinson

Naturally, at a PPG meeting everybody gets to play in turn. No hogging the pianola for us! No call for the well-directed roll plonked on top of the pianola, or starting to play another instrument while the first is re-rolling. Honest. Julian

Thanks for the replys. I spoke to a Pianola restorer in Birmingham in the week who informed me that my pianola is not the type with ghosting keys. He said it can be done by adding weight to the keys, but I am happy with it the way it is. All I needed to know was it was opperating how it should. Perhaps in years to come if it needs a restoration maybe then I will have it converted. What great pictures Christine has posted. I am going to have to get my camera out and take some of mine, although it is nowhere as shiny as Christines. Regards all. Simon