Ooh!   What a controversial subject!

For my two cents worth of information I believe there is a demand for M
rolls to be recut.  At the Miles auction we saw two gentlemen bid a box
of M rolls up over two hundred dollars per roll.  I do not think the
general market would normally support such prices but at least two men
want them.

The last three pianos I have rebuilt were all Cremona's.  One K, One J,
and one G which doesn't count, as the G used the A roll.  Some of you may
remember my favorable comments on A rolls some issues back.  I also have
several Coinola's that play the O roll to compare with the Cremona K or
J.  I have a Coinola X with bells and one with Xylophone.  The one with
bells is a favorite of mine that I will go to the grave with.  The two
rolls sound totally different.

To my knowledge there are only two original Cremona machines that have
only two ranks of pipes and not the third instrument which is either
xylophone or piccolo pipes.  The M machines play nice full sounding
chords on the instrument much like the H or G roll.  When the M roll is
playing those nice full chords on the pipes then the machine can play
solo on the xylophone or piccolo pipes.  The O roll usually plays only
two notes at a time on the pipes or xylophone (bells).  The O roll
machines are known for being more of a percussion type instrument with
all the drums, tambourines, triangle, wood block, etc. while the M
machines don't have as many percussion devices.

The O roll machines have many capabilities as do the M machines of being
much more musical than the original rolls provided.  In the 1970's Arthur
Reblitz and Dave Junchen arranged some excellent rolls for both types of
player systems.  I believe it was Art who took a Weber arrangement and
converted it to the M roll.  Art also did another M roll that has been
very popular with owners of these machines that were lucky enough to
obtain a copy of recent show tunes.  There have been more new O rolls
created in the last thirty years than M rolls because there have been so
many homemade O roll machines produced that range, from so-so to really
good.

The Capitol O rolls have made the Coinola as popular as it has been.
Recent auction prices have been really low in comparison to what the
Coinola X was bringing in the 1970's.  The one at the White Plains
auction did not sale at the $12,000 bid but was sold later for $20,000,
so I am told.  Even 20,000 is a bargain compared to 1980 prices when
unrestored ones were sold for as much as $19,000 and some restored ones
sold for $35,000 American dollars.

The Coinola X at the Miles auction was around $10,000 while the Cremona J
went for over $40,000.  The Cremona J at Miles went back to the man who
sold it to Mr. Miles so the story goes which may be why the rolls were
bid to new highs.

I would like to see some more new roll arrangements made for all the old
machines because I really don't know most of the old tunes found on
nickelodeon rolls.

Don Teach