A 48 note Robino Tremolo hand-wound barrel piano. Repaired b...

Hammer

£600

A 48 note Robino Tremolo hand-wound barrel piano. Repaired by Colin Williams.
The wooden case raised on two turned spindle front supports, featuring the three original glass-front panels with landscape paintings. This may have been a moving picture piano, but it has not been used as such for a long time. As most tremolo pianos in existence are broken (specifically in regard to their mechanisms), this piano is in a playable condition. Repaired by Colin Williams, the piano is in working order, with the original tunes on the barrel.

Featuring Simon Robino's 1906 patented tremolo mechanism; this piano boasts a very different and unusual sound. Instead of a hanger being activated by a pin on the barrel, the top register of the piano (around the top twenty notes) are operated by a splined shaft- a steel bar with ridges. When one of these notes is hit, the hammer 'is drawn downwards between guides in the key-frame to engage the tremolo shaft. The splined shaft then rotates very quickly, causing the hammer to hit the string in a repeated manner multiple times, producing the distinctive tremolo sound. This type of sound carried through traffic noise well.

Although this piano would originally have been transportable, there is no cart with this piano.

DIMENSIONS:
Height 141cm
Depth 63cm
Width of case 106cm
Width with handles 118cm

Colin Williams Collection