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MMD > Archives > September 2010 > 2010.09.25 > 01Prev  Next


Roll-Operated Player Pipe Organ Census
By Mike Roseboom

I have decided to take another instrument census for my own personal
use.  This time I would like to find out how many roll-operated player
pipe organs are still around today.  I am mainly including instruments
made by Welte (such as the Welte Philharmonic Organ), Aeolian, Estey,
and so on.  I'm not including theater organs in this list this time.
I'm specifically after opus numbers as well as number of manuals and
ranks.  The ones I am aware of so far are

1. The 4/146 Aeolian at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square,
Pennsylvania (player still intact?);

2. Aeolian at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society,
Buffalo, New York (number of manuals/ranks?);

3. Aeolian owned by Paul Morris, U.K.;

4. Aeolian owned by Bob Taylor, Missouri;

5. Welte in the Sir David Salomons House, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, U.K.

What other player pipe organs still exist?

Mike Roseboom
Binghamton, New York

 [ How 'bout the player pipe organ in Skagway, Alaska?  It's mostly
 [ Wurlitzer but I think it's playing Aeolian Duo-Art organ rolls.
 [ The console is 3-manual, the owner says it has over 900 pipes.
 [ See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxbOGbVApYE 
 [
 [ And also Phil Underwood's tiny Wurlitzer Model 160C organ which
 [ plays Wurlitzer Concert Organ rolls; see the description at
 [ http://www.theatreorgans.com/wurlitzer.471/ 
 [
 [ In the Château de Candé in Touraine, France, is a 3-manual
 [ Skinner player pipe organ, opus 718, restored in 2009.  See
 [ the history article by Eric Brottier and Anthony Chaberlot at
 [ http://www.aaimm.org/spip/spip.php?article327 and the restorer's
 [ report at http://www.orguent.fr/fr/accueil.php?cat=orchca 
 [
 [ I think all operating roll-playing pipe organs should be
 [ inventoried because they are so rare today.  -- Robbie


(Message sent Sat 25 Sep 2010, 17:30:43 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Census, Organ, Pipe, Player, Roll-Operated

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