Dear Bruce, A few thoughts occur to me.  I have owned an Aeolian for
less than three years, and had to do much of the rebuilding myself.
It is a long but ultimately rewarding job, and you will be amazed at
how many nice, helpful people you will meet during your task.

Without knowing how many (and which) ranks you have it is hard to
comment on your ideas.  I am one of the Aeolian company's keenest
fans, and the idea of adding non-Aeolian bits is something that does
not appeal to me _but_ I can understand how you feel if you have only
heard a poorly set-up smaller organ.

My experience with 20 ranks and two very healthy tremulants is that
a very acceptable "theatre" sound can be had, it is just a matter of
knowing how to use the resources.  Most Aeolians had voxes and oboes,
and these combined with a soft flute ("flauto lontana" on mine) give
a very pleasing sound.  So too does a full string chorus + gemshorn
if present, with octave couplers drawn; you really get the "shimmering
string effect".  Some Aeolians had a 16' manual flute ("bardone" on
mine) and this can be used to get some magical effects with 2' piccolo
or 4' flute + octave coupler.  (My next door neighbour thought I had a
Hammond organ at one stage!)

I could go on.  The point I'm making is that "Aeolian spec" does not
automatically equate to boring.  When you see what you already have
now, and when you can hear what it will sound like (from tapes that
I am sending you), you may decide to go for an all-Aeolian rebuild.
Personally, this is what I would recommend.

The Duo-Art rolls were designed, of course, with Aeolian voicing and
pipe-work in mind, and although they _could_ be adapted to virtually
any specification, I have heard several attempts at playing Duo-Art
rolls on non-residence pipe work, and I was not entirely happy with
the results.  I am not an expert though, and could well be wrong.

I _do_ know, however, that you have a fantastic instrument which will
give years of pure enjoyment and sheer frustration in about equal
quantities.  Good Luck

Paul Morris
Exeter, Devon, England