An Arburo Cafe Organ is being offered for sale, with the suggestion
that it can be easily adapted to MIDI capability to be able to play
a multitude of different musical catalogues, including Mortier,
Decap and others.

Please may I make a plea to the future buyer of this organ to
_not_ convert it to MIDI.  There is absolutely no reason to do this.
One of the joys of an Arburo, as with any mechanical organ, is to
play it as originally intended and watch the roll (or the music book
for other makes) run through the rollbox.

The Arburo scale is _not_ compatible with any other make of dance
organ and the rolls are specifically arranged for this scale.  Other
organ arrangements, 'converted' to the Arburo scale, will just not
sound right.  Each make of dance organ has its own note scales and
tone colours in the different divisions.

Arburos of my acquaintance are tubed in lead in the primary area
so any addition of a MIDI interface will result in an irreversible
modification.  We owe it to future generations of enthusiasts to
leave well alone where there is no good reason to modify an original
instrument, especially one of such pedigree.

Nicholas Simons, GB