Don, I noticed that eBay reference to style 105 rolls too, and had
the same reaction as you. But there is so much inexpert, incorrect,
and confusing information on eBay, due to the seller's lack of
experience or lack of plain ordinary schooling, that one despairs of
trying to correct the record. If you want to see ignorance at work,
just search eBay for "jutebox."
While Wurlitzer started out making a unique roll for each model of
band organ, they saw the folly in that around 1915 and standardized
roll styles to the three we know today, styles 125, 150, and 165.
In 1922 they introduced the big failure, the style 180.
Ron Bopp mentions, on p. 61 of his "The American Carousel Organ,"
early rolls with these style numbers: 48, 44, 38, 59, 59, 155, and 160.
He shows what organ played each roll, as well as the number of playing
notes and total perforations in the roll.
On p. 77 Ron shows a 1916 poster describing seven Wurlitzer band
organs, including a style 126. But the descriptive print below each
illustration is too small to read. His table on p. 88 lists the organ
models playing each of the four standardized Wurlitzer roll styles.
He shows organ styles 100 to 127 as playing the style 125 roll.
On p. 93 a table indicates that the style 126 organ was equipped
with 13 trumpets (wood; see p. 102), 28 piccolos, a total of 129 pipes
(or more likely 139; see p. 102), plus percussion. It sold in 1916 for
$900. Ron has a question mark for whether it had stops or not. But
if it did, they would have been manual draw stops, since the style 125
roll lacks register controls, as you stated.
The Bowers Encyclopedia says only two of the style 126's were made
between 1916 and 1919, with none known to survive. So it looks like
you know something that neither Bowers nor Bopp were aware of!
Matthew Caulfield (Irondequoit, N.Y.)
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