The day the music died

A nicely done feature on the closure of the last player-piano roll manufacturer.

One machine dates back to the 1880s when it was used to make shoes,
and for the past 100 years has made the tabs with brass eyelets used to
hook the roll into a piano.

There are also aging machines to
perforate and punch the holes, to cut the stencils to print the lyrics,
to spool the rolls and to glue the roll boxes together.

“There
are so many facets of it. The perforating machines are old and
cantankerous, and they’re one star in a constellation of machines that
all have to be functioning,” Berkman said.

How interesting that the manfacture of player-piano rolls outlasted the sales of pre-recorded videotape.