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Estey Organ Company Music Rolls
By Tom DeLay

I service a 1912 Estey residence player organ.  The entire organ is
tubular pneumatic excepting the couplers which are tracker.  There is
nothing sophisticated about this very original Estey player.  It does
not control the expression, stop registrations, or couplers.

By flipping the tracker bar and adjusting the take-up spool for width,
one can play either 65-note or "58-note" rolls.  The spacing for the
"58-note" rolls are typical 88-note player piano rolls.  The pedal can
couple up to the player which is dumb as it has the 16' pitch playing
on the manual and turns the sound to mud.  The player treats the entire
2-manual organ as a "1-manual" instrument.

The roll collection is mostly 65-note and 88-note piano rolls.
There was one Aeolian pipe organ roll -- no. 51230, Melodie in F, by
Rubinstein (transcribed by I. V. Flagler) -- that of course would not
even begin to play on this Estey player with the incredibly small
perforations and close spacing.

My question, what was the perforation spacing on the Estey rolls?
Are they the same for 65-note or 88-note?

Next time I am on the installation site, I will see what, if any, Estey
rolls are in the collection.  I do not recall seeing any Estey rolls.

Tom DeLay
Salinas, California


(Message sent Wed 4 Nov 2009, 16:43:25 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.)

Key Words in Subject:  Company, Estey, Music, Organ, Rolls

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