FRANK ADAMS

Frank Adams died on February 8, 2007 in Arlington, WA at the age of 85.   

Frank was a long-time piano and music roll collector and dealer.  He first started collecting music rolls in the 1960s.  He had an aptitude for the business end of the hobby and he eventually graduated to buying and selling rolls, musical instruments, vintage phonographs, and jukeboxes as a full-time endeavor.

Frank started auctioning reproducing piano rolls in the late 1960s.  Before long he was reissuing piano rolls, piano sales literature, and player piano service manuals. 

In the early 1970s he formed the Automated Music Roll Co. (later AMR Publishing).   Although AMR continued to produce piano rolls, in the 1980s the company expanded its publishing to include reprints of radio, phonograph, and jukebox service manuals.  AMR became the ultimate resource to collectors, hobbyists, and service technicians of vintage radios and jukeboxes as well as reproducing pianos.

Frank took great pride in producing a high quality product. His service manuals were printed on enamel stock paper and the covers were laminated.  His piano roll boxes and flanges are the most durable in the hobby.  The paper used for the rolls was the best available.  The perforations on the piano rolls he sold were always properly aligned and cleanly cut.

Frank knew everyone in the mechanical music hobby.  He took delight in matching up the instrument or roll with just the right collector.  He also enjoyed buying and selling clever musical novelties such as toy jukeboxes, dancing Coca-Cola cans, and musical animals.  He especially liked to see the reactions of young children to his toys.  

Frank published six books which, when viewed as a set, provide a complete history of the jukebox.  Each book features one or more manufacturers and compiles in chronological order advertisements from every jukebox sold by that manufacturer.

Frank was born in Tacoma, WA.  He moved to Bellingham at a young age where he was raised by an aunt.  He enlisted in the army, but was discharged when discovered to be underage.  He then joined the Coast Guard where he served during World War II.

After the war he received an undergraduate degree from Western Washington State College. After graduation he worked for a while as a teacher.  He moved to Alaska where he served as a district school superintendent before returning to Washington State. 

He returned to school and received a PhD in Education from the University of Washington in 1959.  During this period he also started the car dealership which he successfully operated until the 1970s when he became interested in player pianos.
In 1960 Frank was a Democratic candidate for the position of State Representative from the 45th District of the State of Washington.  He used to jokingly say that he “received a total of five votes.”

Frank was appointed Lieutenant Colonel in the Washington State National Guard in 1977.  The Governor of Guam appointed him a Major General in the Guam Territorial Guard in 1986.   He was also a lifetime member of the Seattle Yacht Club. 

Frank is survived by daughter Karen Adams of Everett, WA; daughter Nancy Neil and son-in-law Rick Neil of Fredericksburg, VA; and granddaughter Andrea Neil and her fiancé Drew Monica of Maryland.