The highest note on an "A" roll is A.
The highest note on a "G" roll is G.
I don't think anyone planned it that way; it's just one of those neat
and interesting coincidences.
On the Seeburg "L" (Lilliputian model, not the orchestrion), the key
in which the music comes out is of little consequence in contrast to
the fact that the piano has significantly fewer notes than the "A" roll
was designed to play. You can't repeat a note that's already been
called for an octave above or below. So there are going to be notes
missing here and there. Perhaps the original tubing arrangement was
intended to minimize the missing note problem.
If you are going to alter the tubing arrangement, I think you are going
to have to mess with the bleeds as well. Bass notes coupled to the
same tracker bar hole have smaller bleeds. I don't have an "L" handy
to check, but here are the bleed sizes for the "KT', which plays a
48-note "G" roll on a 58-note stack in a 61-note piano, in the right
key:
First 10: #74 drill size
Next 2: #60 drill size
Next 10: #74 drill size
Remaining 36: #60 drill size
The same 58 note stack in the Seeburg "K" has all its bleeds the same
size, but plays the 58-note "A" roll in the wrong key!
There was a lot of good music cut on "A" rolls over the years. If you
enjoy this sort of thing, I'd recommend something like a Nelson-Wiggen
Style 8 (piano, mandolin, xylophone and bells) or most any Cremona "A"
roll piano, preferably with pipes. Some of the Seeburg keyboard "A"
machines have coupled bass and treble octaves, and while the coupled
treble I find musically detrimental, a coupled bass when playing a "G"
roll is practically mandatory because of its limited compass.
Note: Some "A" rolls are labeled "For 65-Note Rewind Electric Pianos",
but this refers to the number of holes in the tracker bar. All "A"
rolls have only 58 playing notes, except for a very few intended for
use with a tune-selecting device; these have 57.
Jeffrey R. Wood
[ Ed Sprankle had an A-roll keyboard piano with coupled octaves in
[ the treble. I asked if teeing two valves into one tracker bar hose
[ affected the repetition. Ed said his tech felt that it depended on
[ how the bleed sizes and valve travel was adjusted, but in any event
[ it was a compromise of some sort. -- Robbie
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