•In reply to questions about the Reproduco, posed by John McClure, I offer the following: First a disclaimer: I can not guarantee these answers as being beyond doubt correct, I can only state that this is what I have done with my own Reproduco, and feel the results are most satisfactory. My piano is...

•Howard Wyman recently wrote: > Keep in mind that the pitch of the organ may not be A = 440. > For example, in the Wurlitzer 105, all pipes are one whole step > below standard pitch. That is, a pipe marked G would sound the > same as an F played on the piano, a pipe marked C would correspond > to B-...

•The organ builder's bible, Audsley: The Art of Organ-Building, gives a table that relates the pitch of a flue pipe to the air temperature. This is abbreviated below showing only the two end temperatures of the scale. A nominal pitch of a1 = 439 Hz at 68 deg. F. (20 C.) will change to 435 Hz at 59 d...

•Charles Lightfoote asked [040716 MMDigest, Compensating Organ Pipe Tuning for Air Density]: >> Can anyone help me find some graphic or tabular representation of >> the effect of heat and humidity on pitch as it relates to pipe organ >> tuning? I have a chart which states pitch variations over a ran...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- Here's what I can contribute to the discussion. First, I must warn you I'm an aeronautical engineer, not a musician. For organ pipes, the wavelength of the sound is proportional to the length of the pipe. The resonant air columns inside open pipe...

•Temperature may affect the speed of sound, but temperature and humidity affect the wood that organ pipes are often made of. Therefore, it seems to me that a table from real experience may be more reliable than a simple formula, although the formula will give you an appropriate length to scale the p...

•In MMD 2004.07.16.08 Charles D. Lightfoote asked about the effect of heat and humidity on pitch as it relates to pipe organ tuning. Partial replies were given in MMD 2004.07.17.01-02 and 2004.07.19.06. Having earlier discussed this to some depth in the MMD Pipes Forum I ventured to rework my materi...

•We've had some discussion on the pitch of Wurlitzer band organs. We have read and heard that it is impossible or undesirable to try to drag a band organ to standard pitch; that they are what they are and that's how they were made. We've heard of musicians bleating that they can't "play between the ...

•I remember at some rally, twenty-some years ago, a fellow (perhaps from Oklahoma?) who had added a set of bar bells to his Wurlitzer 145 organ. I was particularly interested in his organ because it was a twin of mine, described by the factory as a special built "145 with dual roll frames, without b...

•In reply to Doug Hershberger's question about the tuning of band organs with bells, I can say that I have rebuilt an early Wurlitzer 146B with the bells across the front and that organ was tuned to A-440 as were the bells. Howard Wyman Valrico, Florida

•> We have read and heard that it is impossible or undesirable to try > to drag a band organ to standard pitch; that they are what they are > and that's how they were made. I have a Wurlitzer 145B and it is quite happy to play at concert (A=440) pitch. All pipes speak well and the tuning slides are ...

•Bill Finch wrote: > Otherwise the bells sound clunky rather than ringy. Wurlitzer liked to hit the bells at the end which gives them a clunky sound anyway, but it's part of the typical Wurlitzer sound. If you're making a set of bells hit them in the middle to get a more musical sound. Fritz Gellerm...

•Window of Opportunity Opening If there is anyone who wants to have Wurlitzer rolls cut or copied, Play-Rite Music Rolls, Turlock, Calif., is going to set up one of its perforators to punch rolls to the unique Wurlitzer spacing (.1227") this fall. How long this opportunity will last to have good-qua...

•Hello. I'm looking for the pitches of the following [dance] organ pipes: alto vibratone, vibratone celeste, piston, lotus flute, bourdon-jazz, bourdon celeste, and zinn. If anyone can tell me what pitch/pitches these pipes are at, that would be appreciated. Thank you. Ben Waterbury

•Tuning a Coin Piano or Orchestrion that has Extra Instruments In an antique coin piano or orchestrion, if the xylophone or pipes were tuned to A=435, then tune the piano to A=435. It's as simple as that! While very few 20th century pianos will be harmed by tuning them to A=440, why would you want t...

•In the second paragraph of my posting yesterday, of course I meant to say "20th century pianos." Many 19th century pianos were tuned to other pitches and shouldn't be raised to modern pitch. Art Reblitz [ I'll revise the text at the MMD Archives, too. -- Editor (Robbie)

•Readers may find some interesting reading about concert pitch at http://www.wam.hr/Arhiva/US/Cavanagh_440Hz.pdf some of which appears to have been copied to the Wikipedia article on the subject, and especially at http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory27.htm I had not known, for instance, that the org...

•It is my understanding that the standard pitch of "A" at 440 Hz was established about 1930, and that before that many different values were in use. At DeBence we have been "guessing" what values to use on various machines. That sometimes has turned out poorly. Does anyone have a good listing of whi...

•Hello Scotty, in 1937 most countries in the West met to set out a standard tuning pitch. They agreed on A=435 Hz at [air temperature] 15 degrees Celsius and it is the only pitch standard ever ratified. This is very close to A=440 Hz at 20 degrees C. Many European instruments use A=435 but the USA i...

•I am to understand that the standard pitch changed in 1922 or '23. If the manufacturer had many xylophones and glockenspiels in stock at this time, then the orchestrions could have been shipped sometime after 1923 at the A-435 pitch. Steve Bentley - sending from sunny Swakopmund, Namibia, South Wes...