by Kathy McDaniel

Hello. I am new to your newsletter, so you may have already told the readers about this. If not, here is something you might add.

Do you know that the online auctions - EBay in particular - provide a great source for finding piano rolls, old music and antique musical instruments?

I bought a player piano a few months ago, and a friend suggested using the EBay auction to find original rolls. I am not going to say I was carried away with the fun of the auction, but I will say that I now have more than 150 rolls.

The auction is pretty simple. First, you have to sign up with a user ID and password that gives basic information about yourself so that you can be "found" if you fail to complete your auction contract. It is easy and straightforward to do this.

After that, you can either SEARCH for piano rolls (or whatever you are seeking), or you can go to the Antiques category, then Musical Instruments, and then search through.

If you don't want to wait a long time, I suggest you narrow it down to the Going, Going, Gone category. It shows items whose auctions are ending within 5 hours. There is an email link on each auction item description, so that you can write to the seller and make sure the piano roll is not torn, has its end connector, etc. You place your bid, and if someone outbids you, you get an email telling you to bid again if you want to stay in the game. (At the last minute, you have to watch yourself, because the email might reach you too late.)

At any rate, if you want to have fun, and find a lot of unique, even weird "stuff," check out the auctions on EBay, Amazon.com, Yahoo, etc. It's a LOT of fun!

P.S. The piano I bought is a Meldorf from Chicago. From reading your literature, I am guessing it is what is called a reproducing piano. I think it's from the 30's. If anyone can tell me anything more about Meldorfs, I would be grateful!
Kathy McDaniel

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