Twice, back in 2007, Reg Smith inquired as to the whereabouts of
Glenn Grabinsky.  There was to be no reply forthcoming.

Now over seventeen years ago, Mark Reinhart posted information
regarding the "Welte-Mignon T-100 Recording System."  In response,
an impressive amount of interesting and useful discussion followed.
It is with regard to both of these events that I am posting.

Glenn Grabinsky and I came to correspond a bit re the Welte
Philharmonic recorder that had surfaced sometime before, coming
eventually into Durrell Armstrong's possession.  It is interesting
and pertinent, I believe, to the Mignon recording system subject and
so, on this account, I am going to repeat here perfectly verbatim,
that which was written by Glenn Grabinsky to myself first on March 12
of 1990.

It will serve, I am sure, to reveal bits of useful information which
otherwise if not, likely would be lost to ever-transpiring time and
untoward events.

G.B. writes [March 12, 1990]:

  Dear Mr. Miller,

  Dick Howe told me that he mentioned the Welte Recording machine
  to you, and that you were interested in it.

  I now have it in my possession and have inspected it very
  carefully.  It most assuredly is Welte, constructed here in the
  States, but most likely with components sent over from Germany.
  (The gear boxes, motors etc. are American).  The machine has
  a dial indicator for speed.  It was loose inside (needle off).
  When I opened it I found that the gauge was reversed, and that it
  was marked M. Welte & Sohne.  The unit is set up for recording
  pipe organ rolls of up to 175 key format.

  The basic design of the little wheels that do the marking is
  probably the same as what was on the piano recording machine.
  It is amazing that the unit survived all these years.  The
  perforator survived as well.  It is complete except for a few
  removable case panels (it is mahogany), and the ink or chemical
  supply roller unit.  I am not sure if it used ink, as I can find no
  traces of ink in the unit.  The recording paper for the master rolls
  could have been specially treated paper, and the "ink", a reactive
  chemical solution.

  Dick said you have a photo, of what could be this machine, taken
  years ago.  Does it show the "ink" roller assembly in it?

  If you would like, I could send you some photos in a few weeks of
  the unit.  The unit is extremely well built, and weighs about as
  much as a small piano.

  If you would like the photos and more info on it, let me know.

  Best Regards,
  (signed) Glenn Grabinsky

After receiving this, I instead sent to G.B. nine 35 mm color images to
which reception he responded a year and nine months later, on December
15 of 1991 thus:

  Dear Mr. Miller,

  My sincerest apologies for the untimely delay . . . (the following
  paragraph remainder I omit because being of-the-personal.)

  After getting your pictures, It was obvious what was missing in
  the inking or chemical printing assembly.  It was quite a massive
  and complex looking device.  I searched in vain to try to locate it.
  Most likely it was scrapped a few years ago, . . . in the Atlantic
  City area.

  The history of the unit is somewhat interesting.  It survived Welte
  along with master rolls, a perforator and miscellaneous other roll
  apparatus.  From there it went to Kimball and sat until the late 1950s
  when Durrell Armstrong owned it.  He could not afford shipment to his
  place, so he loaned the units to Jim Ballantine in Absecon, New
  Jersey, to work on for him (to do Ampico rolls).  He paid the
  freight for the units to New Jersey.  There everything sat for quite
  a few years.  Armstrong and Ballantine had a falling out and a lawsuit
  started as to who owned what.  Armstrong got the perforator back (he
  still has it but it is a real sour grapes topic with him).
  Ballantine kept the marker and the other items.

  Ballantine went bankrupt and died penniless a few years back, and
  whatever was left in his shop (such as the inking unit) got scrapped.
  I talked to a friend of his, as well as his brother, and they
  remember that the unit was all intact when they first got it.  I even
  contacted his widow to see if by chance there was any thing still left,
  but sadly the answer was no.

  I have since sold the unit to a Swiss Welte enthusiast who is
  involved with a museum over there.  It is his intent to restore the
  unit and hook it up to one of the Welte residence organs to attempt to
  make some new recordings.  I think I was wise in allowing it to return
  "home" to a group that will hopefully do something constructive with it
  rather than have it fall into a black hole where it would not see the
  light of day for another 20 years.

  Again I wish to apologize for my tardiness, but wish to thank you
  for these priceless pictures.  Hopefully they will prove of great
  importance in the final restoration of this piece.  When I hear
  anything about the progress of it, I will let you know the details.

  Best Regards,
  (signed) Glenn Grabinsky

And that was the last I was to hear from Glenn Grabinsky.

For some fifty years I've contemplated just what might have been
inside the Mignon recording unit, and as it the case with most of
like-interest have had my ideas which I'll keep close held for fear of
starting something that I should not.  What is of key interest here,
I think, are matters of-the-factual, not speculation.

These images are large 8"x12" color prints, and reveal a fair amount
even though derived of 35 mm film originals.  In most recently looking
them over for the umpteenth time, I noticed two things seeming out of
place for a "175 key format" Philharmonic recorder.

In two of the views the actuating magnets for the pull-down pneumatics
count clearly to only 88!  (There seems to not be yet another 87!)
Another is the remarkably lesser width of the missing mystery device's
roller widths!  (The adjustable precision-turned take-up being quite
wide and greatly dissimilar to those.)

What might these items of interest signify, possibility-wise?  Thoughts?

Cheers,
Jim Miller
Las Vegas, Nevada

 [ The Welte recorder probably was used also for Wurlitzer organ rolls.
 [ Welte Philharmonic player organ rolls used 150 channels, whereas
 [ the Wurlitzer R player organ system used 175 channels; both formats
 [ were punched at 4 holes per centimeter.  The rolls were trimmed to
 [ 15-3/16" width for Welte and 16-7/8" width for Wurlitzer.  -- Robbie