Hello all,  I recently took on a band organ project for a local
fellow.  He has an older style Wurlitzer 105.  A previous restorer
worked on it until the time he passed away some 20 years ago, not
quite ever finishing the restoration.   I am just doing the finishing
touches, and the organs owner is looking forward to hearing it after
many years, and taking it to a local rally here in September.  All that
is required is installing a spool frame, tubing it up, tuning, etc.
My only previous Wurlitzer experience has been working on a model 145
playing a 150 roll.

I became quite frustrated when I went to determine the tubing order to
the valves.  Even with a note clearly stamped on the pipes, the pipes
refuse to play at that pitch.  Example: A pipe marked A will only tune
as sharp as a G.

It is obvious Wurlitzer must have transposed this scale for the 125
roll.  A search through the MMD Archives confirmed this.  However,
the Archives did not turn up quite enough information.

It would be easier to determine the intended pitch of a given pipe if
the tuning slides had not been so well cleaned up by the last restorer
-- it's really hard to see where they originally were set most of there
life.  Each pipe seems to be about one full step flat of the pitch
stamped to the pipe.  However, the 5 basses seem to be either a full
step, or more like a step and a half, flat of the normal 125 scale
pitch.

Can anyone shed some light on this?  Anyone ever rewrote the scale on
paper to minimize the confusion?  I am relatively new to the subject of
music, so this "Rubik's Cube" is somewhat frustrating.  I would like to
know the correct scale so as to eliminate some guess work.  The note
scale I have now is one I found in the Archives, as well as having a
PPCo reprint of the Wurlitzer 125 roll tracker bar scale.  Wurlitzer
did this one different.

Regarding the current thread of paying for MMD, I feel it is the best
bargain around at a $30 annual donation.  I have yet to send in $30.
I usually send $35, $30 seems cheap for the enjoyment of the Digest
with the morning coffee.  We spend $125 a year for the local paper,
and most of the time it has only bad news.

If anyone has the revised scale, and would share it, it would be most
appreciated!

Thanks,
Bill Masterman
Tacoma, WA

 [ The scale of the music roll is defined by the noteur, and it may
 [ be defined differently from the instrument builder's scale.  For
 [ example, the scale of the Wurlitzer 165 music is key of C, but
 [ it sounds in E-flat when played on the Style 157 organ.  Somewhere
 [ at his web site Melvyn Wright gives a good explanation of this,
 [ but I couldn't find it just now.  (Read his humorous treatise,
 [ "Tune Your Organ by Email", at http://www.melright.com/ and turn
 [ on the sound card and speakers.  ;-)  -- Robbie