For Les Higger (080915 MMDigest):  One note lower for F is not E but
E-flat.  F-sharp becomes E.

There is more to consider than just tuning the organ.  If the organ
is designed for a certain pitch, tuning it one note lower could make
the slides or stoppers loosen in the pipe causing the pipe to go off
speech.  Instead of getting a good tone out of the pipe it will sound
hoarse.

There is also the trumpets to consider.  Most trumpets on band
organs have only the voicing wire to tune by.  The length of the pipe,
pressure, and thickness of the reed are all factors in determining
a good trumpet tone in pipes like this.

Changing the voicing wire from it's optimum may cause the trumpet to
go off speech.  In a church organ, most times the trumpets also have
a tuning scroll at the top of the resonator.  To change the way the
trumpet sounds a little, the tuning scroll can be rolled back, for
instance, and the voicing wire at the boot can be tapped down to keep
the trumpet in pitch, but the speech is changed, and vice versa.  Most
band organs don't have this option.

I don't know why some Wurlitzers are tuned one note lower than the
note marked on the pipe.  Maybe the pipes are of larger scale (?) for
a louder or different sound and were marked with notes of the normal
scale for that model of organ to eliminate confusion?  I'm confused.

In any case, if you have the organ tuned and it sounds good and you can
still reach the stoppers in the stopped pipes easily I think I'd forgo
the idea of tuning it one note lower.

Tony Marsico, Curator, Bayernhof Museum

 [ Some Wurlitzer organs (and many European organs) playing 'standard'
 [ music were offered in large and small versions.  For example, the
 [ Wurlitzer Style 157 band organ plays the same music rolls as the
 [ larger Style 165 band organ, but at three half-steps higher pitch.
 [ Since the tuning and other maintenance instructions were already
 [ published for the 165 organ, the firm kept the same description for
 [ the 157 organ but installed shorter pipes so it sounded three steps
 [ higher.  I think Mike Ames once owned a Style 157 organ with two
 [ sets of letters stamped on the violin pipes, one for 165 and the
 [ other for 157 tuning!  -- Robbie