The story about Wurlitzer using a recording keyboard to make band organ
rolls was just another of Frank McCullough's fabrications, along with
Farny Wurlitzer's non-existent daughter, 153 organ, and roll collection.
The Wurlitzer Company never used a recording keyboard or automatic
marking machine for making band organ rolls. Music arrangers drew lines
on master roll paper printed with rows of small dots, with each vertical
row representing one tracker-bar hole, and each horizontal hole
representing one punch step. The paper had sprocket holes to
synchronize it with the reader on the perforator. The arranger sat at a
table and drew lines connecting the dots to indicate the hole locations.
Somewhere buried in my files I have a piece of Wurlitzer master roll
paper, some pieces of sheet music, and some correspondence from a man
who arranged rolls for Wurlitzer and who was introduced to me in the
1970's by Harvey Roehl. He said the arrangers were paid a nickel a foot
for their master rolls, which were usually repeated several times to
make up a complete tune. This was very economical for the Wurlitzer
Company, in contrast to rolls made by Gustav Bruder in Germany, who took
as long as three weeks to produce a four-tune Weber Maesto orchestrion
roll!
Art Reblitz
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