Automatic Music List
By Jim Weisenborne
Hi, everybody. It seems that Terry has been acting as the clearing house. Good. I'm Jim Weisenborne. My primary interest (aside from reproducing pianos - Welte, AMPICO and Duo-Art) is reproducing pipe organs. I collect rolls for various systems: Aeolian, Austin, Estey, Moller, Skinner, Welte, Kimball.
I just had the pleasure this past Saturday of joining the New YOrk City and New Jersey Chapters of ATOS (American Theater Organ Society) for a trip down to Atlantic City where we had the rare opportunity to see the two world-famous pipe organs: the Kimball Ballroom organ (with a Kimball player) and the monster auditorium organ, the giant Midmer-Losh, 7 manual, 300+ rank instrument. The Midmer-Losh organ chambers are not to be believed. Some of the 16' wooden pipes have mouth openings large enough to put a micro-wave in. And talk about a sonic spectacular. We all sat down in front of the stage, off to the right nearly under the giant shutter door openings. When the organist hit the first big chords -- well, we were unprepared! It was like having a tidal wave of sound come washing over you. I fully expected to see all of the folding chairs and their occupants wash to the back of the back of the auditorium. Can you believe that the loud reed stops are on 100" of wind pressure!!! Most of the loud theater organ or church organs never got beyond 25" at the most. The console is so big that the organist literally sits in it. It is built into a booth, the back of which you can remove and actually walk into. It's like a little apartment. There are so many stop tabs on the organ that I wonder how anybody can play the thing, let alone see the writing on the tabs if he wears bi-or tri-focals. The Kimball Ballroom organ was a real treat. It was in tune and very orchestral in its voicing. It is the last remaining Kimball (aside from my own 3/22 residence organ) that has its player unit intact with rolls. Talk about scarce as hen's teeth!!!
But seeing and hear the large 64' and 32' bass pipes was a real treat. And just think, I learned all about this trip via a casual remark made on the Internet!
I hope that this mailing list will be helpful in swapping rolls, exchanging technical information, and giving advice. For example, has anyone out there ordered pneumatic cloth from Australia and had pin holes appear? Two restorers of player pianos have telephone me recently with a warning and are in a quandry now about just where to purchase decent pneumatic cloth.
Next question. Has anyone ordered the duo-art rolls from California that were played by Peter Minton? How is the playing and the expression coding?
Has anyone rebuilt a Welte licensee vorsetzer?
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(Message sent Tue 18 Apr 1995, 01:03:20 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
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