Malcolm Player Piano / Metropolitan Music Co.

[joker]

Hello,
I came across this page/forum while trying to do some online research about my parent's piano. It is an upright pedal player, stamped "Malcolm". Inside it says "Malcolm manufactured for Metroplitan Music Co.", and has the number 29749 stamped on it. From what little I can find, I think it's a Malcolm and Co. model made by Murdoch and Murdoch (which also made Spencers). Putting the serial number in the lookup came back with a manufacture date of 1896-1900.

We actually just want to get rid of it - as my parents are getting on in years. From what I have read, the piano probably has little value; but it would be nice to know a little more about it - especially if the assumptions I am making are correct. Thanks in advance for any help. Feel free to email direct to johnjoachim@earthlink.net. We are in the State of Minnesota in the USA.

[Bill Kibby]

The Malcolm company, like Spencer, was controlled by Murdochs, the retailers. A century ago, Malcolm was advertising separate "piano player" units, but they had been known for making reed organs and continued making piano actions, as well as player actions. There are lots of problems with Murdoch numbers, and they cannot be used in this instance, so I would suggest asking your tuner to remove some of the keys at the bottom end of the keyboard, and search for datemarks. See
http://www.uk-piano.org/piano-gen/reports.html

[joker]

Thanks Bill! I will get together with my brother and check this out. Appreciate your feedback very much!