More "O" roll notes:

When the "O" roll plays it generally only plays one solo instrument
at a time.  I don't remember ever having a roll that plays both solo
instruments at the same time.  I only have one Coinola with two solo
instruments and that is a Coinola "K" cabinet model with two ranks of
pipes that no longer plays.  It was originally in a roller skating rink
in Palestine, TX.  This machine has the muffler rail.  It has a little
box with two pallet valves so that the muffler can come on with either
set of pipes.

The original Coinola rolls as well as the recuts use an interchangeable
spool that holds the roll on a single axle with the flanges screwed to
the axle.  One flange is removable with a screw on the outside of the
flange with the drive flange having the screw on the inside.  Once the
flange with the inside screw is set in place then it doesn't have to be
moved again.  The other flange with the outside screw allows easy
removal of the roll and allows for compensation due to humidity
changes.

I don't remember any of my originals having thumb screws, which is
one reason to take advantage of the $1 screwdriver sale.  This sale
allows each piano to have a screwdriver (the tool, not the drink)!.

I would think that since the Coin Piano rolls are longer than regular
player rolls that the single axle with flanges attached could allow
better tracking of the music roll.  I have never seen an original coin
piano with automatic tracking.  In the hundred or so Coinola rolls that
I have, very few have torn edges that are so common on regular player
rolls.  I would suspect that many of the regular player rolls that have
torn edges came from automatic trackers not working properly.  Since
coin pianos don't have automatic trackers, then there is one less
problem part.

The Coinola X I have has bells in it, and they are not two octaves
below the piano notes.  I got this X from the William Allen Collection
and he got it from Reds Antiques in Forney TX who got it from Wallace
McPeak.  I chased that piano for twenty years before I was able to
buy it.

I also bought a Coinola C-2 from Wallace 18 years ago and it has pipes
that play.  Now if only I could combine those two machines into a
Coinola CO.  The original Coinola CO machines that I have seen (three)
all have the wooden xylophones in them.

In building a new machine to play "O" rolls I would advise using the
muffler rail.  The little wire that trips the jacks out to make notes
not play was used in some large Wurlitzer instruments in my memory.
There is no noise with the muffler rail and it is more original for a
Coinola type machine.  The closer a homemade nickelodeon is to an
original then the closer you are to having a nickelodeon sound like
the original.

The mandolin rail in Coinola instruments are the type with the little
wooden plungers that hit the strings.  These mandolin rails have a
sound all their own and sound very different from the typical curtain
type rail.  Cremona instruments also used a version of this type
mandolin.

Don Teach  (Obviously a Coinola Fan)
Shreveport Music Co
1610 E. Bert Kouns, Shreveport,  LA  71105
dat-smc@juno.com