Hi Everyone,  Gary Goldsmith's Photoplayer [131102 MMDigest] could
either be a Style "YF" or a Style "YG".  Both were small units, with
two piano pedals and seven pedals for playing sound effects.  The
centre pedal on most Wurlitzer Photoplayers plays the drums.

The Style "F" had only sound effects and drums, contained in a single,
small side case half the height of the piano.  The Style "G" had a
larger side case: 4'6" x 4'6" x 2'2".  It included both a 30-pipe
Violin rank and a 30-pipe Flute rank.

Style "G" instruments were made from 1912 through to 1927; the Style
"F" was made from 1912 to ?  They are not shown in the 1924 catalog.
Check in the "Encyclopedia" by Q. David Bowers.

It will take a lot of research to determine which model it was as there
are no records on Photoplayers in any archive I have been able to find
over the past three years.  We were lucky here in New Zealand as only
one Photoplayer ever came here and we were able to find a newspaper
article describing the "K" in some detail.

The "Y" in the Style indicates only one roll player and not a duplex
player.  The number 24490 is not the piano number but the electrical
registration number.  The piano serial number would be in the recess
of the steel piano frame.

The Photoplayer only has a value similar to a Pianola if it has no side
case.  Most of the "Y" styles played 88-note rolls; it was the Duplex
players that played 65-note PC or 61-note PM rolls.  _If_ this player
only plays PC or PM rolls then it has less value, again, because these
rolls are harder to find than hen's teeth.

Regards,
Don Paynter
New Zealand