I have been working on an Aeolian Reed Organ & Orchestrelle book
for almost 20 years. I started by cataloging the complete listing for
58-, 116- and 176-hole rolls (Duo-Art), listing them by number, title,
composer and player (for the Duo-Art) -- all available.
I helped Richard Vance to find his "W" Orchestrelle which was bought
from a friend of mine here in UK. Richard visited me three times and
we corresponded frequently.
The comments on MMD about a 'Volume 2' are interesting, but such a book
would take a lot more effort to bring to a conclusion. For example,
most models have primary pouches and valves, some have secondary valves
and some model Y organs even have _two_ sets of secondaries.
The pneumatic stops are mechanical, pressure or suction. If suction,
many different mechanisms were used, the Aeolian Grand being completely
different from either a model "S" or any of the three types of 46-note
mechanism. There are at least 27 different models, many variations:
there are 3-, 4- or 6-lobe motors on the pressure models alone!
This book will be completed one day; I have details of only 350
instruments world-wide but I have already scanned in many hundreds of
photographs and original adverts. I had intended to include the other
_fifteen_ makes of automatic player reed organs as well.
If you can help please contact me.
Kevin McElhone
Northampton, UK
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