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MMD > Archives > March 2006 > 2006.03.02 > 03Prev  Next


Wurlitzer "Autograph" & Welte Rolls Comparison
By Mark Reinhart

>[ Despite the "Autograph" label, might they have been perforated by
>[ Wurlitzer for instruments that played the Welte-Mignon T-98 "Green"
>[ rolls (which resemble Licensee rolls without lock-and-cancel)?

M. Welte & Sons, Inc., made the rolls before 1920 for the Wurlitzer
Autograph piano.  In the one example of a Wurlitzer Autograph piano
that I examined, the components below the keyboard looked entirely
like USA-made T-100 "Red" Welte components, and all Wurlitzer above
the keyboard.

I looked at a couple of the rolls and they are cut on the paper
typically used in the teens at M. Welte & Sons, Inc. (New York).
I did not un-roll them enough to examine all the expression but the
first couple feet looked like the typical Licensee.  Perhaps I should
have spent more time and I would have seen what Spencer saw.

The rolls all had the usual fabric leaders and metal bar for the
[Wurlitzer Autograph] changer unit.  The roll labels were much like
the M. Welte & Sons, Inc., labels of the period.

The post-1920 Wurlitzer Autograph pianos, I am told, used Art Echo
masters as a source, but I have never examined any of these and have
no idea from first-hand experience.

Since contact with Germany was minimal after 1914 it would have been
impossible for Wurlitzer to have used a T-98 source, especially since
the M. Welte & Soehne T-98 pianos were not introduced until 1922 or '23.

This is all I know about the Wurlitzer Autograph pianos.

Thanks,
Mark Reinhart


(Message sent Fri 3 Mar 2006, 02:48:43 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  Autograph, Comparison, Rolls, Welte, Wurlitzer

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