The "Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments", by Q. David Bowers, on pages 550, 664, 696 and 721, has very little information about this instrument that combined a player piano with organ pipes.  The Seeburg Celesta and the Wurlitzer Organette and the Reproduco piano-pipe organ all looked and sounded similar as they had similar pipes in most models.

According to the Encyclopedia, Wurlitzer introduced the instrument as the "Style W Orchestra" and the name later changed to "Organette".  A total of 292 similar instruments were shipped by Wurlitzer, counting the minor variations using a different pipe voice or a different music roll.  The music rolls were known as "Organette" rolls or "Style W Organ" rolls or "Style W Theatre Orchestra" rolls.  The paper is 8-7/8 inches wide (the same width as PianOrchestra rolls) and it controls 88 channels with holes spaced 10 holes per inch.

The Style W Organette had 49 Flute pipes and 37 Quintadena pipes behind the piano proper in the bottom region, and there were 12 Bourdon pipes (Bass Flutes) that mounted in an enclosing chest at the rear of the piano.  The chest essentially extended the sides of the piano case to cover the 12 Bourdon pipes, and it had a swell shutter set on the back.  There was also a swell shutter at the front bottom of the piano.  The Style Z Organette was identical except that it had 37 Violin pipes instead of Quintadena pipes.

These recordings are actually of a Style Z Organette.  Both the Style W and Style Z played the same music rolls. Personally, I prefer the Quintadena pipe sound of the Style W to the Violin pipe sound of the Style Z.  This particular instrument was owned by Wayne Edmunston in Florida and he made two audio cassettes for me.

Hal Davis

Wurlitzer Style W Music, MP3 files
Wurlitzer Style W Music, ZIP files of WAV files
Wurlitzer Style W Music, WAV files

Return to Wurlitzer Style W page
Return to Sounds page