Technola - 65-Note
By Dan Wilson
In-Reply-To: <9609230654.AA10753@foxtail.com> Larry Fisher commented:
>>8. The roll that he had on the piano had the following detail
>>on it's label:
>>
>> SIXTY FIVE NOTE
>> MELOTO DANCE ROLL
>> 32118
>> You Forgot to Remember
>> The Meloto Company Ltd
>> LONDON - Made in England
>>
> You have a 65 note player. It most likely will only play 65
> note rolls. If the roll has a spindle on each end rather
> than a "socket" then you've definately got a 65 note player.
> The rolls for these are out there but not that easy to find.
> I have 50 or so just because I never threw them away. I'm
> told the recordings of the 65 note variety are far better
> than most of the 88 or 80 note rolls.
65-note rolls are all too common in England - see AMD (MMD?) 96.05.29 for sources. Meloto was the 1930s UK equivalent of Mel-O-Dee and issued 65n and 88n song and dance arrangements in parallel up to the declaration of war in September 1939. Allowing for the difficulty in cutting quick repeated notes on 65-note, these arrangements play identically (except for the high and low notes on 65n, which are doubled back an octave), though I've often noticed that because of the bigger tracker-bar openings 65-note instruments do seem to play more securely. Where 65n really scored was in the rare classical stuff issued pre-1914 - quite a few of the late Mozart concertos, for example. I've got the whole two-piano concerto (of which QRS did an excerpt on their "Salieri" jumbo) and it's just amazing. (Sorry - English obsession with classical coming out again !)
Dan Wilson
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