Dear Mr. Teach and group,  Thank you for bringing to my attention that
wonderful Nelson-Wiggen listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/261529449497 

The Nelson-Wiggen Model 7 orchestrion, which is comparable to the
Seeburg "E Special" orchestrion, is in my personal list of top 10
most-wanted automatic musical instruments.  This is due to being given
an LP on the "Westminster" record label at quite a young age, by a
friend of the family.  The record is titled "Honky-Tonk in Hi-Fi" and
was recorded sometime in the 1950s at the Musical Museum in Deansboro,
New York.

When I was just a kid I mistakenly thought that the Nelson-Wiggen
featured on the "Honky-Tonk in Hi-Fi" album was a Model 6, since I had
never heard of a surviving Model 7 but had heard of a couple of 6s,
mainly through MMD (it was years later that I got to see and hear a
Model 6 in person for the first time).

However, when I got Mr. Roehl's book, "Player Piano Treasury", the
photo of the Model 7 on location at the museum was enough to dispel
this idea for me.  The history of that particular Model 7 was quite
interesting to me, especially since it was sold to Mr. Bill Allen,
a "pioneer collector" in Santa Ana, California, right next door to
where I live!  However, thanks to Mr. Terry Hathaway's PianOrchestra
website, I was able to learn that Mr. Allen's collection was mostly
sold off and dispersed, decades ago.

I despaired at this, and further despaired when my father and I paid
a visit, circa 2000-2002, to the now-defunct shop "Orange Coast Piano"
in Santa Ana, Calif., where the late Mr. Kim Bunker showed us several
interesting coin pianos and orchestrions, many from a then-recent (1998)
sale of surplus instruments that had occurred at Knott's Berry Farm.
(Although I must add here that, as of a few years ago, Knott's still
has quite a few pianos and organs in storage, including probably about
half a dozen Seeburg "L"s, a "K" with violin pipes, some Western
Electrics, a Chicago Electric, and others.)

One of the instruments Mr. Bunker showed me at that time was a
Nelson-Wiggen "3" with xylophone, or so he initially claimed.  He
opened the bottom board of the piano to show us what was down there,
and I seem to recall noticing that the Nelson-Wiggen rotary pump and
motor were shoved all the way to one side of the case, just like the
Model 7 pictured in Mr. Roehl's book.  However, there were no drums or
other percussion in the bottom.  (Note: this detail is important since
all of the original Nelson-Wiggen "3"s I've seen have the pump and
motor located smack in the middle of the bottom section, similar to
many Ampico reproducing upright pianos.)

I also recall (this is over 10 years I've carried this memory now, by
the way) Mr. Bunker telling me that it _had_ been a Nelson-Wiggen 7,
but that the staff at Knott's had gutted out all of the untuned
percussions below the keyboard, and converted it to play "A" rolls,
so that all of their pianos on location would use the same roll.

Mr. Bunker also told me, on another visit, that Knott's had bought
something like 30 Seeburg L pianos circa the 1950s, and then tore apart
about 20 of those pianos to use for parts to convert the other kinds of
piano at their establishment to play A-rolls.  Only apparently about 10
of the "L"s were kept intact and used as-is.

I unfortunately can't verify this story now that Mr. Bunker is deceased,
but perhaps there is an old-timer technician left who used to work at
Knott's in the 1950s-1970s (or knew someone that did) who can tell me
how accurate, or not, this story really is.

One piece of evidence that seems to lend credence to this story is the
Link 2-E they also had for sale at the piano shop at the same time --
many or most of the Link parts, including the pump and endless roll
frame, had been gutted out of the case, and a Seeburg L pump and roll
frame (or maybe it was a "K" roll frame?) installed in the bottom half
of the cabinet.

Anyway, if this story is true and this particular Nelson-Wiggen "3"
(still reportedly owned by a collector in Southern California) was
really a "7", then I wonder if the drums, castanets, etc. and actions
still survive, maybe thrown in a box or crate on a shelf in one of the
storage areas at the amusement park; only park staff with access to
these areas would know for sure.

Now I'm sorry I didn't get any photos of the tracker bar or the bottom
section/pump etc of this instrument at the time, to prove my story.
I think I got a nice panoramic photo of the shop as it was then, with
a big Wurlitzer BX looming over the dozens of other pianos.

The "despairing" part came in because I worried that this was the same
piano I'd loved on the recording, now incomplete!  After all, what are
the chances that not one, but _two_ Nelson-Wiggen 7s would make their
way to Orange County, California, decades after the factory that built
them had closed?  (Later, I'd find out I was wrong, it's not the same
piano.  See my postscript at the very bottom.)

Regarding the so-called "7" on eBay, I am not really a piano restorer
as of yet, and certainly not an expert on coin pianos (for whom I defer
to Mr. Teach, Mr. Reblitz, and several others) but I've read enough,
and seen enough of these pianos over the years, to question whether or
not it was originally a Model 7.  For one thing, the tracker bar of the
instrument appears to be an "A"-roll tracker bar, as shown in the
close-up view on the eBay listing -- holes 1, 2, 62, and 64 are all
enlarged for chain perforations.

For another, the eBay instrument has a reiterating xylophone, which was
a feature of the Model 3 and other Nelson-Wiggen "A"-roll pianos, but
I have never heard of one in one of their "4X"-roll pianos, which
feature musical arrangements custom-tailored for a single-stroke
xylophone or marimba.  In other words, the "3" would probably have a
repeating xylophone, while the "7" would likely have a single-stroke
xylophone.

The fact that the pump and motor of this instrument are missing makes
it even harder to identify, although I don't need to look twice at
those drums and actions to know they're not original Nelson-Wiggen at
all.  Yet another thing that is strange to me about the eBay piano is
that you can see through the art glass in the top, or more properly, it
is translucent.

A friend of mine here in California has an all-original Nelson-Wiggen 3
(not the same piano as the former Knott's piano) in wonderful cosmetic
condition (although not yet playing), which I've seen up-close.
The thing that threw me off about it, viewing it, is that the art glass
in the top does _not_ go through the top panel; in other words, there
are no openings on the inside of the upper front panel carrying the
glass, just solid wood.  So, the glass needs a good source of lighting
in the room itself to reflect the light properly and "shine".  My
friend told me this is apparently typical for Nelson-Wiggen keyboard
pianos, or at least for Model 3s.

My best guess (his best guess?) as to the makers' motivation for this
would be that the case of the 3 is so shallow, and the components in
the top crammed in so tightly, that there simply wasn't enough room
either above the xylophone, roll frame, or wind motor, to squeeze a
light bulb and socket without running a serious risk of the wood or
paper components catching on fire!

Here's a good question: Is the case for the Model 7 equally shallow as
to the 3, or is it deeper?  If it's deeper, they might be able to
accommodate a light bulb and translucent upper front glass.

The seller, in the comments section, notes how the art glass in his
eBay piano appears to match the glass in the 7 in the Nelson-Wiggen
catalog.  This seems to lend credence to the idea that it was a 7 (or
at least has the glass from one).

Further, he notes the piano he is selling has three piano pedals,
whereas all of the 3s he's seen only have two.  I've never really
noticed this, and Nelson-Wiggen appears to have used at least a couple
different suppliers of pianos over the years, so it's certainly
possible that they made all their keyboard styles (1, 2, 3, and 7)
using both types of pianos from both suppliers (with two, or three,
pedals).

It makes less sense to me to offer a third piano pedal in an
orchestrion with so much crammed "downstairs", which would cover up all
of the pedal trapwork and make it harder to service, than to offer a
third piano pedal in a simple coin piano with just a pump and motor
partially covering the trapwork, unless of course that third pedal was
a dummy and didn't do anything.

The tympani beaters themselves (the actual drum hammers and springy
metal shafts) in the eBay piano appear to be Wurlitzer, from either
a Wurlitzer photoplayer or a Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ.

I cannot tell if the two pneumatics to which they're attached are from
a Wurlitzer photoplayer, since I've never seen one of those Wurlitzer
tympani actions "in-person" and so don't know what it looks like up
close.

The other percussion actions appear home-made, to me, and likely not
from any other vintage instrument.  If it were mine I would put it back
to a "3" (after taking it completely apart and thoroughly ascertaining
and checking with the experts that it was, in fact, built as a "3") and
use the removed homemade drum parts for my own projects.  :^)

Since the seller claims there are extra screw holes in the bottom of
the piano where drums/percussions were reportedly attached, I'd say the
jury is still out on this one as to whether it's a 7 or a 3.

I'm still put off by the reiterating xylophone and "A"-roll tracker
bar, however.  Why swap these out of a 7 if you were going to have it
play "G" or "4X" rolls already?

Regardless, In my opinion, Nelson-Wiggens are really nice pianos with
wonderful "banjo" effects and wonderful xylophones, so whomever the
lucky bidder is on this piano, will have a nice instrument as soon as
they can find/make the correct pump and bottom units for it, and of
course get the whole thing properly restored.

It looks very pretty and still does appear to have quite a lot of
original Nelson-Wiggen parts in the top.

Even as a "3" I would enjoy it, since the "A" rolls also have some
killer arrangements (often basically the same ones as the "G"
arrangements), and in fact play a larger note scale than the "G" scale
does.

The Nelson-Wiggen reiterating xylophone is, to me (a percussionist)
almost as nice-sounding as their single-stroke model.  It is one of
the few reiterating xylophones that doesn't practically drive me up
the wall when it is turned on, unlike some others that I've heard!
(The other really good-sounding reiterating xylophone that I like is
the one that Philipps made in Germany.)

As to who converted this piano, I don't know, but it's likely they are
or were based in the Pennsylvania or Kentucky area, since there exists
a Western Electric Model J coin piano with xylophone (keyboard piano;
equivalent to a Seeburg E) which was converted to a "build-up"
orchestrion, made to play "G" rolls, with added tuned saucer bells(!)
played with a home-made action, and also added snare drum, bass drum,
cymbal, and triangle, all played with home-made actions that are the
spitting image of the ones in this Nelson-Wiggen.

Perhaps the folks who run the tourist attraction "Roadside America"
in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania (the place which features the Western
Electric buildup), can give us a clue as to the name of the person who
converted their instrument, and this person in turn may know something
about this Nelson-Wiggen now on eBay.

Here are links to a blog post about this Western Electric piano, a
video of it on YouTube, and a link to the main "Roadside America"
website (maybe someone could add this to the Musica Mecanica list of
public attractions/displays?):

  http://www.harmoniousmusic.com/blog/?tag=orchestrion 
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxhISSPYqKI 
  http://roadsideamericainc.com/ 

Unfortunately with 5 pianos and 2 organs in our house, there is not
really enough room for another piano right this minute, although we
ought to have some room when we move to a larger house, hopefully soon.
(One piano will probably also be leaving for a friend's house as soon
as it is restored)

I am glad there is one bid on the eBay piano and I hope the lucky
bidder really enjoys it, since it should turn out beautifully when
restored.

Hopefully, a "real" 7 will come along for sale at a time when I have
both more room, and more money, a perfect combination!

Sincerely,
Andrew Barrett

P.S.: Regarding the one known, verified, real, complete Model 7 (the
same one on the Deansboro recording), Mr. Tim Trager told me (in a
telephone conversation a few years ago) that it still exists, complete,
in a collection in New England, and also that the collection is not the
big, newer, well-known one that has been mentioned in MMD several
times, but is another collection.  To date I have not been able to find
out the name of the current owner of the complete Model 7, but I hope
that it's still playing well and that he or she is really enjoying it!