Tuning the Wurlitzer Band Organ
By Bill Black
Following is the description of the tuning procedure for a Style 150 band organ taken from a manual (or pamphlet -- 4 pages) entitled "Directions for the Operation of the Military Band Organ" by the Wurlitzer Co.
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"INSTRUCTIONS FOR TUNING MILITARY BAND ORGANS
Styles No. 147, 148, 149 and 150
For your convenience place the instrument on two blocks about 18 inches high, supporting the sides of the case so that you can see the pipes contained in the bottom of the instrument from below.
This instrument contains 22 stopped pipes in the bottom of the case, 22 stopped pipes and 27 open violin pipes in the main case, also 3 brass trombones, 16 clarinets and 16 brass piccolos in front. There are stops for the trumpets, trombones, clarinets and piccolos, two stops for pipes in the main case, one for the open pipes and one for the stopped pipes. These two stops should be open all the time.
Place the tuning roll in the tracker frame and connect the paper with the take up spool, push the stop lever over to the right, press the rewind pneumatic to the right a trifle, and pull the hook down over the screw. The tuning roll can now be moved over the tracker bar from one perforation to the other, and the suction is still on the chest.
Close all the stopped pipes in the bottom and the main case, and the piccolos in front, with soft paper just tight enough so that the pipes will not speak but that the air will go through the pipes. Close the trombones, trumpets, and clarinets with their respective stops and start the instrument. Then begin tuning the open pipes in the main case according to the tuning sheet. Make the fifths a little flat and the fourths a little sharp. When the temperature [*] has been finished, tune the open pipes in octaves as the tuning sheet indicates.
Then open the bottom pipes and tune them according to the respective open pipes one note at a time, then open the pipes in the main case, then the clarinets, then the piccolos, trumpets and trombones, tuning them as the tuning sheet will indicate.
Test the pipes, and if they do not speak properly you may find dust or a little dirt in the pipes, which should be cleaned with a feather or something similar."
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That's the info from the manual. I do not have the "tuning sheet" so, I don't know what information might be given in that. I suspect that the tuning sheet might indicate which holes in the tuning roll play which pipes and the pitches since this was not printed on the roll.
The tuning sequence on the tuning roll starts with C as a basis and proceeds by a progression of two note combinations and then some chords till the accompaniment section is set. The tuning roll then allows you to tune the other pipes using the accompaniment section as a basis. Most band organ owners have these tuning rolls.
I'll now ask the other gentlemen who wrote on this subject to interpret the technical aspect of this information from Wurlitzer as I'm not trained for that.
Bill Black
[* My 7 kg dictionary of 1930 explains:
[
[ temperature: (Obsolete) see temperament.
[ temperament: (Music) The system or process of slightly modifying
[ the intervals of the pure scale so as to admit of modulations without
[ the use of an inconveniently large number of distinctions in pitch. ...
[
[ Hmmmm. Well, Wurlitzer evidently didn't use a "pure" or "just" tuning,
[ nor does it appear they used the piano's "equally tempered" tuning.
[
[ Thanks for all your typing, Bill; I hope that we'll hear soon from
[ Fritz Gellerman about his experiments with the Style 150 band organ.
[
[ Robbie |
(Message sent Sun 22 Dec 1996, 23:17:42 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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