Regarding Kevin McElhone's interest in compiling a list of tunes for
the Capital "Cuff" box, may I suggest that the best starting point is
with an original catalog that holds a list of its own, and then add to
this data base with tunes that can be found in collectors' homes but
that may have been issued later than the catalog.

Kevin, who lives in England, could probably find this most readily in
the archives of the Musical Box Society of Great Britain.  And as for
the small number of postings on the Capital, most the written works on
this subject pre-date and have not as yet made their way onto the web.

During the mid-1960's there was an aroused interest among English
musical box collectors to learn more about the obscure, American-made
models, starting with the Capital but continuing with the Perfection,
the Triumph, the Monarch, and so on.  My late father, Hughes M. Ryder,
was at that time making regular trips to England and responded by
researching these makers that had all been active virtually in his own
back yard -- New Jersey -- and by delivering slide talks on them in
London to the Musical Box Society of Great Britain.  The Society's
Editor, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume, responded in kind by printing what
original materials he could find on these makers.

Ruth Bornand, the legendary dealer from Pelham, New York, had in her
possession an original, 20-page catalog of F.G. Otto & Sons entitled
The "Capital" Self-Playing Music Box.  This includes tune lists and was
republished in its entirety by the Musical Box Society of Great Britain
as a supplement to its Journal, The Music Box, Vol. 2, No. 5, Easter
1966.

This was followed-up with my father's research paper of the same title,
published in The Music Box, Vol. 3, No. 1, Easter 1967.  But his draft
first came off the press when MBSI retitled it "The Capital Cuff Box,"
in their Bulletin, Vol. XIII, No. 2, Christmas 1966; it was republished
later in MBSI's Silver Anniversary Collection (1974); and only months
ago in the MBSI journal Mechanical Music, Vol. 50, No. 2, Autumn 2004.

The entry on F.G. Otto & Sons in Bowers' Encyclopedia, pages 134-143,
contains the Ryder article supplemented by illustrations from the
original catalog, albeit without the tune list.  Substantial
perspectives on Otto have also been offered in articles on related
topics.

Steve Boehck has contributed much on the variations in the Otto
mechanisms; Al Choffnes on the relationships with Regina; and both of
them on the relationships with Symphonion of Bradley Beach, NJ in the
waning days of the industry.  Also, analysis of contemporary accounts
by Dr. Luuk Goldhoorn and others.

The "Capital" catalog itself is undated but lists patents leading up
to 1895, and I'm sure that an analysis of the tune titles, particularly
the later numbers, would close-in more firmly on the date.  As can be
seen from the selected snippets in Bowers' Encyclopedia, the original
catalog illustrates every model with actual photos, from Style A
through G and including Style O.  It includes both the home models and
coin-op varieties, with options of case style, zither attachment, tune
storage table, etc., complete with the original prices.

It also shows a display board, probably mounted by Otto for trade
shows, of the component parts from which the Capital was made.  Also,
instructions for operation of this "Self-Playing Music Box."  And
a list of replacement parts, all for a price.  The "Capital" brand
name appeared in quotation marks.  And Otto referred to the truncated
frustrum of a cone as a "tune cylinder" or a "note cylinder."  Though
technically incorrect, this was probably better marketing than naming
the bright blue & gold, punched steel after a starched shirt cuff!

But the starch has stuck and modern day collectors are more apt to
reverse the quotation marks along with its adoptive name as Capital
"Cuff" box.  One common ground is that Otto referred to it in the
largely American idiom as a "music box" -- not a musical box -- just
as he did with the Olympia, the Criterion and so on.

The plot thickens with the list of tunes, not titled A-, B- and C-size
as today, but named for the Style of box on which they fit.  After all,
the catalog was mainly devoted to selling the boxes and secondarily the
tunes.  Thus, the smallest sized "cuff" has a "List of Tunes for Styles
O & A" consisting of 128 titles; the list for Styles B and G is
sequenced from serial nos. 501 to 631; and the largest size, "For
Styles C, D, E and F" is sequenced from no. 1001, "Ye Merry Birds," to
no. 1146, "Some Day I'll Wander Back Again."  The listings are a rich
archive of popular music of the period, including marches, waltzes,
hymns and show tunes.

As some tunes were bound to be more popular than others, it would
appear that Otto exercised some control over his investment in the stock.
He chose for himself which selections would be included in the cost of
the original purchase of the musical boxes, which were sold with anywhere
from one tune to twelve tunes included, depending upon the model.  The
stern warning in the catalog:

  "As TUNES are furnished with this Box without charge, they must be
   accepted as selected by the Manufacturer.  NO TUNES EXCHANGED."

This conjures images of Gustave Otto at a trade show or in his
salesroom, issuing instructions that the models are to be demonstrated
with one very popular tune in-play and the less popular numbers pulled
from the shelf and stored in the middle of the stack, where they are
less likely to be noticed till after the box is sold!

There are a couple areas where the original tune listings do not
account for anomalies that are discovered by collectors today.  For
example, the "Duplex" label attached to cuffs that were presumably sold
with and for the two-comb models.  And the fact that the majority of
cuffs sport the gold eagle insignia on a blue backdrop, while others
have this transfer-design in reverse.  The large-sized cuffs for both
the single-comb and double-comb models are listed as one, with no
distinctions.  Incidentally, just about every model of assembled and
disassembled Capital is pictured, along with Glenn Grabinsky, in MBSI
News Bulletin #32 (Jan. 1980), p. 22.

The musical boxes of F.G. Otto & Sons continue to provide much more
pleasure than the surgical and dental tools that they had previously
manufactured.  In my family's "music box" collection are several F.G.
Otto & Sons electrical shock boxes, with attachments for every part of
the human body; a very toothy F.G. Otto & Sons bone saw; and a painful
looking F.G. Otto & Sons tooth extractor, "ouch!"

Luckily, Kevin, all you are searching for is the tunes!  If you can't
find this catalog through MBSGB, then I'll copy mine for you.  And your
project deserves the support of "cuff" box owners 'round the world.
Good luck!

Steve Ryder, Summit, New Jersey