PLAYER REED ORGANS
In the 19th century the reed organ became as popular a domestic instrument as the piano. Reed organs were generally cheaper and more easily mass-produced than pianos at least until the 1890s. Reed organ mechanisms are simpler than complicated piano actions : all that is required is essentially opening and closing the pathway to the reed. They are not touch sensitive like a piano. It is no surprise that therefore that effective player organs appeared before player pianos. All that was needed was a simple mechanism to switch notes on and off. Player pianos required a far greater degree of finesse in order to give acceptable results.
A small scale roll was entriely sufficient since their musical scope would be extended by the various stop pitches available in the organ. For example Aeolian's 46-note scale was effectively producing music over an 82-note range. The 46-notes of standard 8ft reed stop pitch was supplemented by two further high octaves in the treble at 4ft and 2ft pitch and one octave in the bass at 16ft pitch. On the same basis the 58-note scale was effectively a 94-note range when stop pitches are taken into consideration.
Organs can't sustain notes unlike pianos and a different playing technique has evolved leading to a different repertoire. A roll-operated organ is not constrained by human playing technique limitations however and simply extending note perforations solves the problem of note sustaining. All of a sudden it becomes apparent that the musical possibilities of a roll-playing organ are virtually boundless.
Good orchestral music requires a good orchestrator. Good organ music similarly requires good stop registration. There is as much an art in effective orchestration as there is in registration. With the player organ the hands are free to registrate the instrument much more effectively than if the same instrument were played manually and very complicated effects are possible when combined with the all technical possibilities of a well programmed organ music roll.
Player organs are infrequently encountered these days. They never achieved the popularity of player pianos. This was due the popularity of the reed organ generally being on the wane by the turn of the 20th century and also the cost and size of the better quality instruments. Because of their general size they are sadly less collectable. Scarcity does not enhance the price - the market is much smaller and demand is very reduced. If instruments require repairs these are potentially much more than those for player pianos.
Whilst thousands of musical roll titles were originally available with these instruments these days most of the rolls encountered with instruments or for sale generally comprise serious heavy classics and the like. The reason for this is that such music was more often than not the taste of the majority of the high-brow wealthy owners of these players. Sadly, because of the relatively small number of playing instruments left there have only ever been a few very limited re-cut programs to make new rolls.
A lot of rubbish has been written about player organs by player piano folk who probably don't even own one. To understand the instrument and its music you should have some small appreciation of the fact that the piano and the organ are two entirely different instruments whose only common characteristic is the keyboard. Their performance capabilities, historical repertoire and development are entirely different.
MUSIC ROLLS
There was a recutting project in 2005-6 for old music rolls and also a few new title presently undertaken by Ed Gaida in the USA. His website is : www.edgaida.com. There may be some more at a future date. Unlike standard player piano rolls it is very rarely that anyone ever embarks upon a project such as recutting 58-note organ rolls.
Aeolian Grands & Orchestrelles play the same music rolls and scale. Unlike piano rolls, the organ 58-note rolls are arranged. The bottom 13 channels are generally reserved for single bass notes to simulate an organ pedal manual and the remaining two sections are divided into bass and treble divisions split at G#/A below middle C. There were several thousand titles produced. The majority were made in the US though there were several hundred produced by the UK branch of Aeolian. US production of new titles tailed off around 1913 and in the UK around 1918 although 58-note rolls were manufactured until the late 1920's.
Rolls were manufactured primarily by the manufacturer, Aeolian, who offered several thousand titles. The London branch of the company also offered a substantial amount of additional titles not offered in the US or elsewhere. The London rolls all have serial numbers preceeded with the letter "L". A quantity of compatible organ rolls were also manufactured by the London based Perforated Paper Music Company under their Imperial brand. In the US a small handful of comanies made compatible music also.
A small scale roll was entriely sufficient since their musical scope would be extended by the various stop pitches available in the organ. For example Aeolian's 46-note scale was effectively producing music over an 82-note range. The 46-notes of standard 8ft reed stop pitch was supplemented by two further high octaves in the treble at 4ft and 2ft pitch and one octave in the bass at 16ft pitch. On the same basis the 58-note scale was effectively a 94-note range when stop pitches are taken into consideration.
Organs can't sustain notes unlike pianos and a different playing technique has evolved leading to a different repertoire. A roll-operated organ is not constrained by human playing technique limitations however and simply extending note perforations solves the problem of note sustaining. All of a sudden it becomes apparent that the musical possibilities of a roll-playing organ are virtually boundless.
Good orchestral music requires a good orchestrator. Good organ music similarly requires good stop registration. There is as much an art in effective orchestration as there is in registration. With the player organ the hands are free to registrate the instrument much more effectively than if the same instrument were played manually and very complicated effects are possible when combined with the all technical possibilities of a well programmed organ music roll.
Player organs are infrequently encountered these days. They never achieved the popularity of player pianos. This was due the popularity of the reed organ generally being on the wane by the turn of the 20th century and also the cost and size of the better quality instruments. Because of their general size they are sadly less collectable. Scarcity does not enhance the price - the market is much smaller and demand is very reduced. If instruments require repairs these are potentially much more than those for player pianos.
Whilst thousands of musical roll titles were originally available with these instruments these days most of the rolls encountered with instruments or for sale generally comprise serious heavy classics and the like. The reason for this is that such music was more often than not the taste of the majority of the high-brow wealthy owners of these players. Sadly, because of the relatively small number of playing instruments left there have only ever been a few very limited re-cut programs to make new rolls.
A lot of rubbish has been written about player organs by player piano folk who probably don't even own one. To understand the instrument and its music you should have some small appreciation of the fact that the piano and the organ are two entirely different instruments whose only common characteristic is the keyboard. Their performance capabilities, historical repertoire and development are entirely different.
MUSIC ROLLS
There was a recutting project in 2005-6 for old music rolls and also a few new title presently undertaken by Ed Gaida in the USA. His website is : www.edgaida.com. There may be some more at a future date. Unlike standard player piano rolls it is very rarely that anyone ever embarks upon a project such as recutting 58-note organ rolls.
Aeolian Grands & Orchestrelles play the same music rolls and scale. Unlike piano rolls, the organ 58-note rolls are arranged. The bottom 13 channels are generally reserved for single bass notes to simulate an organ pedal manual and the remaining two sections are divided into bass and treble divisions split at G#/A below middle C. There were several thousand titles produced. The majority were made in the US though there were several hundred produced by the UK branch of Aeolian. US production of new titles tailed off around 1913 and in the UK around 1918 although 58-note rolls were manufactured until the late 1920's.
Rolls were manufactured primarily by the manufacturer, Aeolian, who offered several thousand titles. The London branch of the company also offered a substantial amount of additional titles not offered in the US or elsewhere. The London rolls all have serial numbers preceeded with the letter "L". A quantity of compatible organ rolls were also manufactured by the London based Perforated Paper Music Company under their Imperial brand. In the US a small handful of comanies made compatible music also.
REPAIR AND REBUILDING
AEOLIAN
The late great Richard Vance rebuilt himself an English-built 1912 Model "W" Orchestrelle and documented every stage photographically along the way also giving detailed explanations of every step he covered. The pages are at the Mechanical Music Digest website and can be accessed by clicking here. Whilst internally slightly different to many models these guidance pages could be very easily applied to the majority of earlier 58-note Orchestrelle models without any difficulty.
WILCOX & WHITE
All Wilcox & White products (whether piano or organ playing) use a non-standard system of large leather pouches to operate the notes. Please see the Wilcox and White pages on this website for specific information for how this system operates. The first 44-note "Pneumatic Symphony" models use the suction system that operates in the same manner as late Angelus player pianos. The 58-note "Symphony" player organs use the "reverse Angelus" system used in push-up piano players, the Angelus Orchestral push-up reed organ / piano player combination instrument and early pre-Melodant system player pianos. The organs themselves are regular suction operated American organs of the well-established Wilcox & White marque but the player mechanisms are very well built and highly complex.
The late great Richard Vance rebuilt himself an English-built 1912 Model "W" Orchestrelle and documented every stage photographically along the way also giving detailed explanations of every step he covered. The pages are at the Mechanical Music Digest website and can be accessed by clicking here. Whilst internally slightly different to many models these guidance pages could be very easily applied to the majority of earlier 58-note Orchestrelle models without any difficulty.
WILCOX & WHITE
All Wilcox & White products (whether piano or organ playing) use a non-standard system of large leather pouches to operate the notes. Please see the Wilcox and White pages on this website for specific information for how this system operates. The first 44-note "Pneumatic Symphony" models use the suction system that operates in the same manner as late Angelus player pianos. The 58-note "Symphony" player organs use the "reverse Angelus" system used in push-up piano players, the Angelus Orchestral push-up reed organ / piano player combination instrument and early pre-Melodant system player pianos. The organs themselves are regular suction operated American organs of the well-established Wilcox & White marque but the player mechanisms are very well built and highly complex.
INFO ON AEOLIAN
The Aeolian Company introduced their "Aeolian" player organ in 1891 playing a 46-note roll. There were other player organs on the market at that time, Wilcox & White's "Pneumatic Symphony" 44-note organ being the main competitor. Within a few years Aeolian introduced the Aeolian Grand playing a 58-note roll and Wilcox & White introduced their 58-note "Symphony" organ. The Aeolian Grand was unusual in that it internally it was two organs : one for automatic mode and one for hand playing. Essentially the Aeolian Grand has a keyboardless player organ crammed inside the case of a regular American reed organ. It was stated in their adverts that an owner could play a solo on the keyboard while the automatic stops played an accompaniment music roll utilizing different toned stops. There were a large number of accompaniment rolls in the roll catalogue that could be used in this manner. The organ could be played entirely from the roll in the usual fashion.
Around 1898 Aeolian introduced the Orchestrelle. This time there was only one organ inside the case and it was operated by either the keyboard or the roll. The "advantage" of being able to accompany yourself was not possible due to the way the system worked and this earlier selling point was dropped from adverts for the new instrument. The other main improvement was the superior grade of the organ itself. This was built by the Vocalion Organ Company and was based on Vocalion's own superlative and succesful "Wright system" reed organ; the pinnacle of American reed organ manufacturing. This was patented in 1893 and used individual resonators over each reed. These resonators modified the tones with slightly different shapes for each rank. There were larger reeds and these were operated by pressure as opposed to the usual suction method. The player mechanism operated by a pneumatic pouch and valve system. The combined width of the reeds, resonators and pneumatic system were wider than the the 58-note keyboard and this is why the instruments were substantially larger than normal suction American organs. Whilst Orchestrelles get mostly played via a music roll only they are excellent organs to play manually due the qulity and characteristics of the Wright system.
There were a few different Orchestrelle size configurations i.e. the V, W and the Y. A new range of exquisite case styles such as "Grecian", "Colonial", "Francis 1st", "Mazarin" were available in different types of mahogany, walnut or oak. Additionally, custom made cases were available.
Around 1906 the pneumatic system was further enhanced. The mechanical stop rail and connecting mechanism were replaced with pneumatically operated alternatives. The tracker bar was changed from wooden to brass and the pneumatic system was made into a double valve system instead of the earlier single valve system. In 1906 production of Orchestrelles was also commenced in the UK at Aeolian's Hayes factory.
The Solo Orchestrelle was introduced in 1906 which could play 2 manual music from a single roll of 116-note scope. The Solo system was fitted into Orchestrelles and also into Aeolian player pipe organs. Aeolian Pipe Organs had been introduced around 1896 and played initially from the standard Aeolian Grand 58-note music roll. With the exception of very early models, Solo Orchestrelles had their own range of case styles in addition to being fitted into existing W & Y model chassis : there became Xw & XY models respectively.
Later developments included the introduction of the 176-note roll playing Duo-Art pipe organ in around 1915. This was essentially the earlier 116-note roll with 60 extra channels controlling stops and dynamics so as to reproduce a live performance. The 176-note format was almost exclusively for pipe organs although a couple of one-off giant Orchestrelles are known to have been built
Aeolian Grands & Orchestrelles play the same music rolls and scale. Unlike piano rolls, the organ 58-note rolls are arranged. The bottom 13 channels are generally reserved for single bass notes to simulate an organ pedal manual and the remaining two sections are divided into bass and treble divisions split at G#/A below middle C. There were several thousand titles produced. The majority were made in the US though there were several hundred produced by the UK branch of Aeolian. US production of new titles tailed off around 1913 and in the UK around 1918 although 58-note rolls were manufactured until the late 1920's.
Rolls were manufactured primarily by the manufacturer, Aeolian, who offered several thousand titles. The London branch of the company also offered a substantial amount of additional titles not offered in the US or elsewhere. The London rolls all have serial numbers preceeded with the letter "L". A quantity of compatible organ rolls were also manufactured by the London based Perforated Paper Music Company under their Imperial brand. In the US a small handful of comanies made compatible music also.
If you can play a keyboard I recommend you spend some while playing the instrument manually. This way you will get the feel for how the keyboard, swell and tremulant responds, how the stops are laid out and general capabilities and limitations. Pull the "Pneumatic to Manual" stop out at the end of the stop rail to play the keyboard.
Aeolian (46-note) and Aeolian Grand (58-note) models
To start automatic play you must push in the stop marked "Pneumatic to Manual". This engages the player mechanism and exposes the tracker board to the music roll. Rolls are inserted and removed just as with a regular player piano. The organ is suction operated just like a player piano. Tempo and reroll functions are controlled from of the organ stop knobs. Inside these instruments are two seperate organs : one played by the keyboard and the other played by the roll only. The stops for each are inidcated by either black or red type on the stop knobs. The original idea was that you could manually play along to organ accompaniment rolls using the manual stops in conjection with the auctomatic stops during play. There are a few hundred accompaniment rolls in the original catalogue that could have been used for this purpose.
Aeolian Orchestrelle 1898-1906 (58-note) models
To start automatic play you must push in the stop marked "Pneumatic to Manual". This connects the player mechanism, diconnects the keyboard and exposes the tracker board to the music roll. Rolls are inserted and removed just as with a regular player piano. You must close the glass door over the music spool box. The box pressurizes in order to read the music roll. Tempo and reroll functions are are controlled from two central organ stop knobs. The "Vox Humana" stop is connected to a paddle-like wind turbine which induces a wavering effect into the sound the reeds produce by interupting the air supply. On rewind always turn off this stop as it will otherwise waste air better used in the roll motor. Pre-1906 models are generally charactized by having a wooden tracker bar, wooden take-up spool, stop pulled by linkage wires, a single valve system and no internal rubber tubing.
Aeolian Orchestrelle post-1906 (58-note) models
The same as above with the exception that post-1906 Orchestrelles have a sliding tempo lever instead of stop-control tempo, however it is fair to say that tempo manipulation does not feature in such a big way with Orchestrelles as it does with player pianos although doing so will vastly improve any musical performance. Post-1906 models are generally charactized by having a metal tracker bar, metal take-up spool, stops operated by pneumatic motor operation, double valve system and internal rubber tubing to connect everything. English-made instruments are generally of this type and are fitted with a different grade of reeds to American instruments.
The small Model "S" Orchestrelle is a suction operated instrument which is essentially an Aeolain Grand merely re-named. These do not have pressurizing spool boxes obviously.
Aeolian Orchestrelle Solo (116-note) models
The basic operation is that of a standard Orchestrelle. Although there was a very rare 2-manual model made the vast majority of instruments have a single keyboard. The roll plays 2-keyboard music by playing the solo note tracks on one set of organ tones and the accompaniment tracks on different sets. Which ranks operate in which division is indicated on the stop knobs. To operate the organ for 116-note music there is a lever marked "Grand - Normal - Reverse" which should be moved to the "Normal" positon. To reverse the solo stops to the accompaniment division and vise versa move the lever to "Reverse". The music rolls for the 116-note format are overprinted with stop registration and normal / reverse instructions so the owner need not concern themselves too much as to when to operate this mechanism. To play 58-note music the lever shoudl be moved to the "Grand" position and this will link all stops to the 58-note scale. The Solo Orchestrelles are fitted with a manual tracking key on the front of the casing adjacent to the spoolbox as tracking for 116-note rolls is a very delicate affair often.
Generally:
Orchestrelles are "semi-automatic"; the notes play automatically but you select the stops yourself. Through practice you will discover which combinations produce the most pleasing performances. You are completely free to make as many changes of stops, tempo or volume as you like. Through practice you will soon be able to produce thoroughly masterful results.
Organ rolls often play at much lower speeds than piano rolls. The roll drive mechanism is capable of doing this very evenly. Some rolls are better on the organ than others. The original advertising a century ago pointed this out and I echo its words in encouraging you to find out by playing through a range of music. Orchestral music which would make drab piano rolls is often exceptionally good on the Orchestrelle - this was what the instrument was primarily designed for afterall. Consequently, if you have a player piano you may well find you acquire an organ roll collection with a quite different focus to your piano roll collection.
Around 1898 Aeolian introduced the Orchestrelle. This time there was only one organ inside the case and it was operated by either the keyboard or the roll. The "advantage" of being able to accompany yourself was not possible due to the way the system worked and this earlier selling point was dropped from adverts for the new instrument. The other main improvement was the superior grade of the organ itself. This was built by the Vocalion Organ Company and was based on Vocalion's own superlative and succesful "Wright system" reed organ; the pinnacle of American reed organ manufacturing. This was patented in 1893 and used individual resonators over each reed. These resonators modified the tones with slightly different shapes for each rank. There were larger reeds and these were operated by pressure as opposed to the usual suction method. The player mechanism operated by a pneumatic pouch and valve system. The combined width of the reeds, resonators and pneumatic system were wider than the the 58-note keyboard and this is why the instruments were substantially larger than normal suction American organs. Whilst Orchestrelles get mostly played via a music roll only they are excellent organs to play manually due the qulity and characteristics of the Wright system.
There were a few different Orchestrelle size configurations i.e. the V, W and the Y. A new range of exquisite case styles such as "Grecian", "Colonial", "Francis 1st", "Mazarin" were available in different types of mahogany, walnut or oak. Additionally, custom made cases were available.
Around 1906 the pneumatic system was further enhanced. The mechanical stop rail and connecting mechanism were replaced with pneumatically operated alternatives. The tracker bar was changed from wooden to brass and the pneumatic system was made into a double valve system instead of the earlier single valve system. In 1906 production of Orchestrelles was also commenced in the UK at Aeolian's Hayes factory.
The Solo Orchestrelle was introduced in 1906 which could play 2 manual music from a single roll of 116-note scope. The Solo system was fitted into Orchestrelles and also into Aeolian player pipe organs. Aeolian Pipe Organs had been introduced around 1896 and played initially from the standard Aeolian Grand 58-note music roll. With the exception of very early models, Solo Orchestrelles had their own range of case styles in addition to being fitted into existing W & Y model chassis : there became Xw & XY models respectively.
Later developments included the introduction of the 176-note roll playing Duo-Art pipe organ in around 1915. This was essentially the earlier 116-note roll with 60 extra channels controlling stops and dynamics so as to reproduce a live performance. The 176-note format was almost exclusively for pipe organs although a couple of one-off giant Orchestrelles are known to have been built
Aeolian Grands & Orchestrelles play the same music rolls and scale. Unlike piano rolls, the organ 58-note rolls are arranged. The bottom 13 channels are generally reserved for single bass notes to simulate an organ pedal manual and the remaining two sections are divided into bass and treble divisions split at G#/A below middle C. There were several thousand titles produced. The majority were made in the US though there were several hundred produced by the UK branch of Aeolian. US production of new titles tailed off around 1913 and in the UK around 1918 although 58-note rolls were manufactured until the late 1920's.
Rolls were manufactured primarily by the manufacturer, Aeolian, who offered several thousand titles. The London branch of the company also offered a substantial amount of additional titles not offered in the US or elsewhere. The London rolls all have serial numbers preceeded with the letter "L". A quantity of compatible organ rolls were also manufactured by the London based Perforated Paper Music Company under their Imperial brand. In the US a small handful of comanies made compatible music also.
| INSTRUMENT | AEOLIAN ROLL TYPE | INTRODUCED |
| Aeolian | 46 | 1890 |
| Aeolian Grand | 58 | 1891 |
| Aeolian Pipe Organ | 58 | 1895 |
| Aeolian Pipe Orchestra | 58 | 1895 |
| Aeolian Orchestrelle | 58 | 1898 |
| Aeolian Orchestrelle (revised pneumatic system) | 58 | 1906 |
| Aeolian Solo Orchestrelle | 116 | 1906 |
| Aeolian Solo Pipe Organ | 116 | 1906 |
| Aeolian Duo-Art Pipe Organ | 176 | 1915 |
| Aeolian Duo-Art Orchestrelle | 176 | 1915 |
PLAYING THE AEOLIAN ORGAN
If you can play a keyboard I recommend you spend some while playing the instrument manually. This way you will get the feel for how the keyboard, swell and tremulant responds, how the stops are laid out and general capabilities and limitations. Pull the "Pneumatic to Manual" stop out at the end of the stop rail to play the keyboard.
Aeolian (46-note) and Aeolian Grand (58-note) models
To start automatic play you must push in the stop marked "Pneumatic to Manual". This engages the player mechanism and exposes the tracker board to the music roll. Rolls are inserted and removed just as with a regular player piano. The organ is suction operated just like a player piano. Tempo and reroll functions are controlled from of the organ stop knobs. Inside these instruments are two seperate organs : one played by the keyboard and the other played by the roll only. The stops for each are inidcated by either black or red type on the stop knobs. The original idea was that you could manually play along to organ accompaniment rolls using the manual stops in conjection with the auctomatic stops during play. There are a few hundred accompaniment rolls in the original catalogue that could have been used for this purpose.
Aeolian Orchestrelle 1898-1906 (58-note) models
To start automatic play you must push in the stop marked "Pneumatic to Manual". This connects the player mechanism, diconnects the keyboard and exposes the tracker board to the music roll. Rolls are inserted and removed just as with a regular player piano. You must close the glass door over the music spool box. The box pressurizes in order to read the music roll. Tempo and reroll functions are are controlled from two central organ stop knobs. The "Vox Humana" stop is connected to a paddle-like wind turbine which induces a wavering effect into the sound the reeds produce by interupting the air supply. On rewind always turn off this stop as it will otherwise waste air better used in the roll motor. Pre-1906 models are generally charactized by having a wooden tracker bar, wooden take-up spool, stop pulled by linkage wires, a single valve system and no internal rubber tubing.
Aeolian Orchestrelle post-1906 (58-note) models
The same as above with the exception that post-1906 Orchestrelles have a sliding tempo lever instead of stop-control tempo, however it is fair to say that tempo manipulation does not feature in such a big way with Orchestrelles as it does with player pianos although doing so will vastly improve any musical performance. Post-1906 models are generally charactized by having a metal tracker bar, metal take-up spool, stops operated by pneumatic motor operation, double valve system and internal rubber tubing to connect everything. English-made instruments are generally of this type and are fitted with a different grade of reeds to American instruments.
The small Model "S" Orchestrelle is a suction operated instrument which is essentially an Aeolain Grand merely re-named. These do not have pressurizing spool boxes obviously.
Aeolian Orchestrelle Solo (116-note) models
The basic operation is that of a standard Orchestrelle. Although there was a very rare 2-manual model made the vast majority of instruments have a single keyboard. The roll plays 2-keyboard music by playing the solo note tracks on one set of organ tones and the accompaniment tracks on different sets. Which ranks operate in which division is indicated on the stop knobs. To operate the organ for 116-note music there is a lever marked "Grand - Normal - Reverse" which should be moved to the "Normal" positon. To reverse the solo stops to the accompaniment division and vise versa move the lever to "Reverse". The music rolls for the 116-note format are overprinted with stop registration and normal / reverse instructions so the owner need not concern themselves too much as to when to operate this mechanism. To play 58-note music the lever shoudl be moved to the "Grand" position and this will link all stops to the 58-note scale. The Solo Orchestrelles are fitted with a manual tracking key on the front of the casing adjacent to the spoolbox as tracking for 116-note rolls is a very delicate affair often.
Generally:
Orchestrelles are "semi-automatic"; the notes play automatically but you select the stops yourself. Through practice you will discover which combinations produce the most pleasing performances. You are completely free to make as many changes of stops, tempo or volume as you like. Through practice you will soon be able to produce thoroughly masterful results.
Organ rolls often play at much lower speeds than piano rolls. The roll drive mechanism is capable of doing this very evenly. Some rolls are better on the organ than others. The original advertising a century ago pointed this out and I echo its words in encouraging you to find out by playing through a range of music. Orchestral music which would make drab piano rolls is often exceptionally good on the Orchestrelle - this was what the instrument was primarily designed for afterall. Consequently, if you have a player piano you may well find you acquire an organ roll collection with a quite different focus to your piano roll collection.
WILCOX & WHITE INFO
The musical arrangements on Wilcox & White 58-note rolls are generally identical to Aeolians. The reason is quite simple : whilst they were market competitors the Meriden roll factory was a joint venture between them and so they shared roll production facilities. Wilcox rolls run through the player back to front and from bottom to top when compared to an Aeolian 58-note or regular piano roll. Aeolian originally adopted this method for their 46-note scale but abandoned it with the introduction of the 58-note scale. Wilcox & White used it for their earlier 44-note "Pneumatic Symphony" scale and continued it on their 65-note piano rolls and even a very few of their early "Angelus Grand" 88-note rolls. Additional differences are that Wilcox & White music sheets are cut slightly wider at 10 1/4" (inches) as against the 10 1/8" of Aeolian. The metal spool drive spindle is also different being of a narrower diameter and protruding less from the end of the spool. As a consequence Wilcox & White rolls will not
fit into an Aeolian Grand or Orchestrelle if the music is reversed contrary to common belief. Some later Orchestrelles have slightly wider or adjustable take-up spools that may admit the music. Please do not purchase Wilcox rolls assuming they will play in your Aeolian unless you know that they will. My own orchestrelle with a wooden take-up spool most definiately will not play reversed W&W rolls.
PHONEON INFO
The Phoneon was a 61-note player reed organ. It was essentially a regular American organ (i.e. suction operated instrument) to which a very basic player mechanism was fitted. Various models were made though the one in the featured advert below is the most commonly encountered. The rolls are standard 6-per-inch perforated and the spools are standard 65-note spools slightly shortened to the narrower scale width. The rolls were chromatically arranged but due to the non-standard width were non-compatible with other systems. The rolls were essentially the same as those sold for use on the related 61-note "Malcolm" push-up piano player also sold through Murdoch & Co and manufactured by the same company. Whilst the "Malcolm" player quicky vanished the Phoneon did continue to be made for a good number of years and a 58-65 note example believed to date from the late teens / early 1920s is known to exist in a private collection.