Wurlitzer Monsters and Mammoths
By Matthew Caulfield
S. K. Goodman is willing and able to arrange MIDI files for the Wurlitzer Monster band organ (and I suppose for 'most any other one too), but where are the remaining Monsters, and are they outfitted with MIDI interfaces?
I know of three: Dr. Bill Black's, converted to play 165 rolls (do you have any original rolls, Bill?); the one on the PTC [Philadelphia Toboggan Company] carousel in Burlington, Colo., also converted to 165 rolls, and the one currently for sale by Marty Roenigk (I don't know what it plays, but it needs restoration). It would be neat to hear one of those Monsters playing on all 100 keys again.
Now I am wondering whether one or more of what I am calling Monsters here aren't actually 122-key Mammoths. I hope Bill Black or someone steps in here and sets the record straight.
[ Editor's note:
[
[ The Style 155 owner, Gordon Forcier, said he seeks Midi control because
[ "the cost of a roll frame and music rolls is very costly." It sure is,
[ especially when one thinks of the cost of custom-building everything
[ for only one instrument; Midi control is probably a great deal
[ cheaper.
[
[ But I pose this question to the Wurlitzer collectors:
[
[ Suppose that a "production run" of roll frames and music rolls were
[ possible, compatible with both the Monster and Mammoth scales, and thus
[ available for _all_ the big instruments. Wouldn't the increased market
[ value of a completely restored instrument with a music roll player
[ offset the restoration expense?
[
[ Robbie Rhodes
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(Message sent Fri 20 Dec 1996, 21:05:16 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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