[ Tim L'Amoureux wrote in 181228 MMDigest:

> This doesn't qualify as "undiscovered" but still might qualify
> as an extinct instrument.  If I'm not mistaken its organ stop was
> called a "V'olin".  It was a stop on a Robert Morton pipe organ
> and was meant to simulate a real violin.

There is a Robert Morton V'olin in the "Hunter Hall" collection in
Rio Vista, California.  There was some speculation that the V'olin
came from the Alhambra Theater in Sacramento, as it was still in
place when the bulldozer was photographed in the auditorium.

This instrument/stop came from the Henningsen collection.  It was
being restored by Carsten Henningsen for display in the Ye Olde Pizza
Joynt on Hesperian Boulevard in Hayward, California.

The plans for this instrument/stop are in the surviving Robert Morton
blueprints.  I have been contemplating making a copy that would go into
the California Theater in Pittsburgh, Calif.  At present I made some
copies of the Morton plans, which are on my phone for study.  At the
least I am looking into making a virtual CAD model from these plans and
the existing example.

I used these plans to make a CAD model of the Robert Morton pit organ,
also in Hunter Hall.  Most of the stack is missing.  I created a CAD
model and recreated the valve board from it.  At the moment I am
seeking how the linkages to the pit organ roll player work.  The speed
governor structure is missing and not in the plans.

Eventually the V'olin will play from the pit organ.

Julie Porter
Martinez, California