The mention of my name by Paul Walsh in connection with the Blackpool

Imhof & Mukle triggered memories of when the instrument passed through

our workshops at Southam Warwickshire.



The Birmingham Museum approached a number restorers at the time to quote

for the "restoration" of the Imhof, and I guess Greyham Whitehead's

tender was the lowest or at least the most appealing bid.  The Imhof &

Mukle was originally barrel-operated, weight-driven as indeed our own

Imhof was, but it had been converted to thin-card roll operation with a

pneumatic under-action replacing the barrel key frame and its pull-downs.

This would have increased the tune repertoire and negated the laborious

task of barrel-changing.



The pneumatic action had some limitations though, as large pipes in the

bass section could not keep up with fast-repeated notes being played

from the roll, something which would not have occurred with the original

barrels.



The museum at Birmingham seemed to never play but one roll, which was the

William Tell Overture (with lots of bass notes playing staccato--or not,

as it turned out).



Some years later we were approached by the museum to quote on the safe

dismantling of the instrument, but as we were heavily involved with

Ashorne Hall at the time, we declined to tender a bid.  I believe that

the Imhof is crated up in storage somewhere, never to be seen again, like

the Arc of the Covenant.



As for recordings, Whitehead had a musical selection on a Decca record,

or at least I think it was.  Incidentally, our own Imhof, although slightly

smaller in size, contained more pipes than the Blackpool instrument, and

there were 36 barrels of music to go with it.  You can see it briefly in

the film "The Go-between."  It is under the grand staircase and you get a

shot of it as the camera pans 'round to the dining room.  Our Imhof was

bought by Sanfilippo in Barrington Hills, Illinois, via Tim Trager.



Cheers for now,

Paul Camps (from a damp, muggy UK)