•Dear friends, the big Waldkirch Organ Festival is over. The winning 20-note Belly Organ now plays in the USA. We are happy about. We discussed a lot of questions. One of them: How many different models did the Geb. Weber company in Waldkirch build? We know names like Otero, Maesto, Isola, Eurterpe...

•Can anyone tell me the hole spacing (holes per inch or per centimeter) on a Loesche Violin-Piano Orchestrion tracker bar? The roll played is 13-3/4" wide, and the holes look about the same spacing as a Phillips or Wurlitzer roll. Does anyone have access to a tracker bar they can measure? Thanks for...

•Roger Wiegand states, "Don't even get me started on the crazy coupling of the cymbal and bass drum endemic to almost all mechanical organ scales." I share Roger's frustration; the fact is, however, that historically the bass drum and cymbals did usually share the same rhythms, with the cymbals play...

•I have several European orchestrion rolls I'm trying to identify. The paper is 350 mm in width with wood flanges. According to Tom Jansen's web site they could be Loesch Xylophone/Violin or Popper Universal rolls, but the flanges look different: http://www.maesto.com/rollenident.html Photos are ava...

•To other collectors: I am currently restoring a Lösche Jazzband piano. It seems that these machines might have the ability to play rolls other than the Lösche Jazzband rolls. Does anyone know if this is true? And what other rolls might the instrument have the capabilities to play? Thank you, Mike C...

•Dear all, Having recently heard again the lovely Ruth fair organ that belongs to Nigel Myers and family, at Lincoln show, playing the recently acquired "Lustspiel Overture", I am determined to try and find an 88-note piano roll for my Brinsmead Pianola. The organ crew kindly told me that they thoug...

•Sorry to hear of Siegfried Wendel's death. I met him in 1999 on a visit to Ruedesheim. He encouraged me to lose my inhibitions and crank the small organ in the museums entrance room for the rest of the audience to enjoy. Does anyone know whether the orchestrion replica building will continue? I sti...

•If this instrument was built for Philipps PM and CP rolls, which were also made by Wurlitzer, it would be a shame to change the scale. This would also require major changes to the tracker bar and roll box as the PM rolls are narrower than others. May I suggest that the owners purchase new PM rolls...

•Hi specialists -- A friend of mine has acquired a Weber piano with No. 3348 ("Waldkircher Orchestrion-Fabrik Gebr. WEBER GmbH Waldkirch-Baden"). He would very much like to know its scale, so that he could start punching a few pieces for his pleasure. Would anyone here have a reference for the scale...

•Dear friends of the pianola, I just bought a set of piano rolls of Imperial, Orchestrelle, Odeola and other well-known brands. But I also have five rolls from a mysterious "HS" Schutzmarke (copyright notice), made in Germany. The cut seems specific, and some rolls have square punches. The most noti...

•Is there anybody who can help to get into contact with Richard Groman? We bought an Aeolian organ console from him a while ago, and since then we received calls from the movers that it is not possible to get hold of him since September. We really need the console here in Beeskow, Germany, to procee...

•I have two original Red Welte (T-100) rolls played by Manuel de Falla: No. 2770 Piezas Españolas: I. Aragonesa, II. Cubana and No. 2771 Piezas Españolas: III. Montanesa, IV. Andaluza You will find them in the PDF list of new Red Welte rolls, "Piezas Españolas," available at http://www.musicrolls.de...

•David, Greetings from The Bronx (a borough of New York City, New York, USA). Regarding your inquiry about testing MIDI files of organ arrangements, the MIDI program known as Cakewalk has a feature which allows you to create your own organ scaled parameters in the program (the scale files have a .ca...

•I was asked by an artists group to find them a working Ampico for contemporary concerts and performances. Demand is either for a grand or an upright and, due to transport cost, it should be located in Europe. As happens so often, there is only a limited budget but I will help in any possible way to...

•Dear MMDers, my name is Claudia Nauheim, I have been editor of the German journal "Das Mechanische Musikinstrument" since April 2022. During the inventory of the music rolls in the German Museum of Musical Automatons at Bruchsal Castle, a dedication by Bonnie Tekstra was found on a Weber Maesto rol...

I recently attended the music show in Orlando, FL. (phongraphs, et. al.) While I was there, I found 2 more records of machines that were in the "Olde Tyme Musical Museum" on Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando. I know the museum is long gone; I was curious about whatever happened to all of the machines ...

•It seems that there is a big need in good material to restore pneumatic Instruments. Of course we have this problem also in Germany. We have tested many different rubbercloth, leather, etc. In the past years, at least, we came to the point that there is no really good material for the most of the n...

•Hi folks, The weather was great and the crowd was large for the Milhous auction in Florida. Now for the pertinent details. If anyone wants any specific prices, please contact me directly. I'm skipping the non-musical items and will mention only a few not sold items. Berliner gramophone (that many f...

•We have been reading with great interest all the comments on the 1812 Overture or parody. We have a very old music book. The first piece in the book is a title sheet with the following information: [ View this with a monospace font, such as Courier. -- Robbie ] The Glorious Victory of SALAMANCA, on...

•"Tremolo," as defined in professional music dictionaries including "The Harvard Dictionary of Music" by Willi Apel, is the rapid reiteration (or repetition) of the same tone, produced by rapidly reversing the bow on stringed instruments. "Vibrato" is the fluctuation of pitch. Apel admits that while...