Hi All,  I have an early black box Poughkeepsie, New York, Welte-Mignon
test roll that I would like to get instructions for.

Actually I have two but the one that has some instructions printed on
it is not only in very poor condition but is missing quite a bit of the
beginning and end of the roll.  The roll that is complete does not have
any printing on it except for the label which, by the way, does not have
a roll number.

The tests on the roll are in a different order and are not the same as
on the 1927 test roll that has been widely duplicated (I have duplicates
of it from four different sources).  All the reprinted instruction
booklets I have are for the 1927 test roll.

This early test roll of ca. 1917 differs in many ways from the 1927
test roll and I will list some of these as follows:

1. there is no musical test at the end of the roll;

2. the minimum volume test for the early roll plays six notes with the
hammer rail and "Forzando off" activated versus the five notes in the
1927 test roll;

3. the bass and treble crescendo, up to and down from the Mezzoforte
hook, are performed at the same time rather than in sequence, bass
first, treble second;

4. the test taking the expression pneumatic up to the Mezzoforte hook
with six short "Forzando on" perforations also are performed concurrently
in bass and treble;

5. there is a repetition test of each note at the end of the roll
consisting of twenty-eight repeats of each note.

If anyone has an instruction booklet or other information on this test
roll I would like to hear from you.

Thank you all very kindly,

Allen Ford

 [ The Welte-Mignon rollography, page 108, says, "The production by
 [ Poughkeepsie of 11-1/4-inch copies for Auto Pneumatic, during the
 [ years 1916-19, called for a new box and label.  This came to be
 [ known among collectors as the Welte or Poughkeepsie black box, not
 [ to be confused with the later 1920s De Luxe Licensee black box.
 [ ... Of [high] quality in appearance, the labels had an ornamental
 [ border and are identifiable by 'M. Welte & Sons, Inc., Poughkeepsie'
 [ usually appearing in the lower right corner."  Ref. Chas. Davis
 [ Smith, "The Welte-Mignon, its music and musicians", (C) 1994 AMICA,
 [ ISBN-1-879511-17-7, page 108.  -- Robbie