The Fussell brothers of Ryhall, Stamford, are still in the organ
business, although, I believe, both no longer work at organ building
fulltime. There are many 20-note hand-cranked street organs around in
the UK built by Fred and Richard Fussell. These organs are of the
highest quality, although larger than most of the same key size. Some
have more than one rank of pipes, on manual stops. The Fussell
brothers' workmanship is of the highest order.
Back in the 1980's, if my memory serves me correctly, they built a
series of Accordion Band organs. This was a small indoor instrument
played from a 42-key cardboard book, with a full size accordion as the
only tone-generating component, plus various percussion. It was
effectively a small dance-organ type instrument, suitable for someone
without much space. I do not know how many were made, but probably not
more than a few dozen at most.
The Accordion Band is said to have been designed by Peter Watts of
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, who will be fondly remembered as a music
cutter and mechanical music inventor of great ability. Unfortunately
Peter died prematurely in the 1990's, although his large Mortier dance
organ is still traveled by his widow, Jean.
Nicholas Simons
UK
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