Niels Berkers asks about the unused holes in a Bremar Waddington
tracker bar, "Does this mean my player is built from another player's
'leftovers'? Or perhaps that this company used only one type of
tracker bar in all their pianos, regardless if they are Themodists
or not?"
Without actually knowing anything about such tracker bars, I lean
toward the second possibility, based on Wurlitzer's practice. If you
look at a Wurlitzer band organ roll frame you will notice all kinds
of unused screw holes and attachment places. Apparently the company's
roll frame castings were of a generic variety, the same molds being
used for making roll frames for various types of instruments, such as
band organs, photoplayers, and orchestrions. Some instruments needed
controls attached to their roll frames that other instruments didn't.
When needed, the places to attach them were pre-cast in the frames.
Matthew Caulfield (Irondequoit, N.Y.)
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