Last weekend (June 14 and 15) I attended the mechanical music and
phonograph swap fest at Union, Illinois.  It was a great meet as usual --
saw some unusual instruments, met some new friends and saw some old ones.

I did not yet have any roll-playing organettes (small reed organs), so
had to decide between a 20-note "Symphonia" by WIlcox and White (of
Angelus and push-up fame) or a Jubal/Mascot 14-noter playing rolls about
the size and shape of a small film roll (the smallest rolls ever used,
according to the Encyclopedia, page 770).  It was beautifully crafted of
solid walnut, including the tiny wooden tracker bar.

Well, I waited too long and someone else grabbed the Jubal, so I took the
Symphonia with a dozen rolls.  Very fine music, creative arrangements --
"The Last Rose of Summer" even has the arpeggio variations.  "The Blue
Danube" has all 10 strains.

The music helped me decide not to get one of the metal-disk organettes
from the same seller -- these are limited to about 40 seconds per
selection, although many of the arrangements were great while they
lasted.

Since the Symphonia has pneumatic pouches to drive the valves from its
wooden tracker bar, its snappy response is limited only by the free reeds
themselves, which speak more slowly than pipes.  This may explain why the
Gem roller "cob" arrangements seem so slow and stodgy by comparison.

The Symphonia's 20 notes are pitched rather low, giving a mellow,
soothing sound that can be made brighter by removing a wooden baffle
plate over the reeds.

I have slow repetition on one note -- would it help to pump out the
tracker bar as on a piano?  Any other organette owners out there want to
tell us about their instruments?

Also at Union I saw two barrel grind organs, including a beautiful one
probably made in Denmark.  Most unusual was a Triola zither, made by
Knapp in Dresden, where you crank the reiterating melody roll with the
right hand while strumming accompaniment chords manually with your left
thumb.  Probably easier to play than the Tanzbar concertina, which I
proved to myself requires considerable practice to master!

Finally, many thanks to those who responded publicly or privately on my
request about visiting Vienna.  I had already made up my mind ("yes,
go!") last Friday evening after posting the request, but I think the
music world was trying to tell me something -- every organette I tried at
Union came up with The Blue Danube.

Mike Knudsen