There has been some questions raised about the Operators Piano Co.
style "O" roll.  First a little history.

The Operators Piano Co. probably made many pianos that utilized the
"O" roll for several years before the introduction of the Coinola
Models CO and SO.  The CO and SO were the only models to my limited
knowledge that could utilize the full capabilities of the "O" roll.

Models made before these such as the rare style "D" had two ranks of
pipes and no other instrumentation but used the "O" roll.  The "D" is
a very early model found on an old poster I once had.  The poster shows
the Coinola line, but no CO or SO models, and mentions the "O" roll.

The Coinola literature of the 1920's seems to be the first literature
to mention the Coinola SO and CO.  I have some early "O" rolls with
copyright dates before 1920 so I believe the "O" roll was around for
quite some time.  Some of the earlier models that played the "O" roll
usually had only one extra instrument.  The earlier pianos appear to
have bells and the later ones appear to have xylophones.

I have a Coinola CX that plays the xylophone as the solo instrument.
The xylophone is of the reiterating type.  These original machines when
compared to the homemade models I have been subjected to are much more
listenable than one might think.  The volume of the xylophone is just a
little louder than the piano.  All of the original "O" roll pianos I
have seen use the little muffler felt that drops down between the
hammers and the strings whenever the solo instrument is turned on.

The piano notes for the upper two octaves are the same notes used for
the solo instrument.  When the second solo instrument is called and
there is not one in the machine, the piano plays a nice little solo on
the upper 24 notes and is quite nice.  There were some classical rolls
than make these machines sound very expressive and somewhat rival their
European counterparts.

If I was going to build a homemade "O" roll orchestrion then I would
want to copy an original machine as close as possible because the same
amount of time would be involved.  If I could not copy an original
machine then I would try to make the new one sound as close to an
original as I could.  The one that was just auctioned for 35,000 (give
or take) is a good reason to make a good copy because I know of no
homemade machine that would bring close to that much money.

I would also like to say that I personally enjoy the music that a
"O" roll piano can produce.  Not all "O" rolls are excellent but they
do have a good reputation among some collectors for having the best toe
tapping music around for an American made orchestrion.

As some would say, "The preceding is just my opinion based on limited
exposure to nickelodeons,"  but those who really know me know how much
I really love nickelodeon pianos.

Don Teach, Shreveport Music Co
1610 E. Bert Kouns, Shreveport,  LA  71105
dat-smc@juno.com