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MMD > Archives > February 2015 > 2015.02.19 > 07Prev  Next


Early Kimball "Soloist" Pipe Organ Player
By Roger Morrison

Here is a page of some notes I had on the Kimball player with the
earlier tracker bar scale from the WW1 era.  It was a simple system but
it produced nice music.  This was a nice player and the rolls were done
very well.  There was also another, later tracker bar scale that used
some of the center holes as pilots.

The [early] scale following is for a "standard looking" 11-1/4-inch
piano roll of 98 holes at 9-holes-per-inch.  The pedal played the first
12 holes, then the Accompaniment and then the Solo sections.  The organ
was set up much like a 44-note spinet organ of some of the first
electric organs.

The boxes had basic information about how to set the combination stop
changes; the stops got heavier as you went from stop change 1 though 6. 

 - - -

Kimball Soloist Tracker bar scale, 1914 era
from left to right, 98 holes, 9 per inch

 1  Swell open, chain perf.
 2  Stop change 1
 3  Stop change 2
 4  Stop change 3
 5  CC Low - Pedal begin
 6  C#
 7  D
 8  D#
 9  E
10  F
11  F#
12  G
13  G#
14  A
15  A#
16  B Pedal end
17  C Tenor - Accomp. begin
18  C#
19  D
20  D#
21  E
22  F
23  F#
24  G
25  G#
26  A
27  A#
28  B
29  C Middle
30  C#
31  D
32  D#
33  E
34  F
35  F#
36  G
37  G#
38  A
39  A#
40  B
41  C
42  C#
43  D
44  D#
45  E
46  F
47  F#
48  G - Accomp. end

49  Rewind

50  F - Solo begin
51  F#
52  G
53  G#
54  A
55  A#
56  B
57  C Middle
58  C#
59  D
60  D#
61  E
62  F
63  F#
64  G
65  G#
66  A
67  A#
68  B
69  C
70  C#
71  D
72  D#
73  E
74  F
75  F#
76  G
77  G#
78  A
79  A#
80  B
81  C
82  C#
83  D
84  D#
85  E
86  F
87  F#
88  G
89  G#
90  A
91  A#
92  B
93  C High - Solo end
94  Blank
95  Stop change 4
96  Stop change 5
97  Stop change 6
98  Swell Closed, chain perf.

Swells open and closed: max. open was a chain bridge about 6-7" long and
closed was likewise, using a device much like Clark and Roesler-Hunholz
on their organ players.

Data was taken from rolls of Roger Morrison collection and three
players were built from these specs.  A few rolls were recut.

Roger Morrison


(Message sent Thu 19 Feb 2015, 14:26:05 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  Early, Kimball, Organ, Pipe, Player, Soloist

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