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Scale of Wurlitzer Caliola
By Matthew Caulfield

Mike,  The reason you can't get the Caliola hole spacing to come out to
any sensible figure is that the Caliola spacing is the same odd spacing
as Wurlitzer used for most of its band organ rolls: 0.1227" on centers.

A machinist friend of mine once told me his theory of how or why
Wurlitzer settled on that figure, but I couldn't possibly repeat the
explanation now.  Whatever the explanation, it was crafty of Wurlitzer
because it locked up their roll business for them.

The scale is the same as for Wurlitzer APP rolls, although in theory
the arranging styles for the two types of instruments were different.
But there is evidence that some APP and Caliola rolls were
note-length-for-note-length identical -- the same roll with different
label and different roll number pasted on.

This is what Art Reblitz's "Treasures" shows for the Caliola/APP scale:

  1.  Shutoff
  2 to 5.   Blank
  6.  Snare drum
  7 to 71.  A to C#, 65 playing notes
  73 and 73.  Blank
  74.  Bass drum and cymbal
  75.  Rewind

Matthew Caulfield (Irondequoit, New York)


(Message sent Thu 11 Sep 2003, 13:27:19 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

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