Hello fellow mechanical music lovers --  I have spent quite a bit of
time listening to recordings and live performances of many types of
band organs.  I've had the opportunity to study quite a few tunes which
exist across all of the common Wurlitzer platforms (125, 150, 165) and
have made some interesting comparisons.  (Unfortunately I have not been
able to include other less-common Wurlitzer platforms such as 155,
160, 180 due to lack of access and scarcity of recordings.)

It's true that a few additional notes on the style 165 music rolls
allow for the occasional secondary dominant or diminished chord not
attainable on the other rolls, but the poor style 150 rolls are
hampered by those three lonely bass notes, sometimes honking along
repeating one note (not even the tonic or dominant note) over and over
for several bars.

But most interestingly, after studying quite a few tunes, I have come
to the conclusion that for whatever reason the style 125 arrangements
are often the most interesting.  There are lots of little details here
and there that just don't exist in the 150 and 165 arrangements.  Has
anyone else noticed this?  I can't help but wonder why -- they could
have just as easily been included in the 150 and 165 arrangements too.

David Kelzenberg