lUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - Please support publication ...

QUESTION AND ANSWER FORUM
We invite our readers to submit questions, new research information,
historical notes, etc. concerning any phase of automatic musical
instruments. We shall do our best to answer the inquiries. The
comments and questions of the most general interest will appear in this
column.
WURLITZER Solo Violin Piano
QUESTION: In reading "Player Piano Treasury" I notice on page
102 the description of the Wurlitzer Flute or Violin Piano. According
to the Wurlitzer advertisement shown there the Style AX is available
with the basic piano plus a mandolin attachment and "violin effects."
On the next page in "Player Piano Treasury" there appears a
description of the Wurlitzer Solo Violin Piano. Except for the fact that
the Solo Violin Piano apparently doesn't have a mandolin attachment,
what is the difference between the two instruments?
ANSWER: Both are very different musically from each other and
each has a different construction.
The Style AX Violin Piano is a basic Wurlitzer 65-note Automatic
Player Piano with a rank of violin pipes added. These pipes, 38 in
number, are housed in a chamber built behind the piano sounding
board. The AX (or Style A if it has the long roll frame rather than the
changer) uses the conventional Wurlitzer Automatic Player Piano roll.
This type of roll provides that the 38 violin pipes will turn on or off as
desired. When playing the pipes play the same notes as the top 38 notes
in the piano scale (the pipes play the same notes at the same time that
the piano is playing them). This, incidentally, is the way that most
standard types of "nickelodeon" rolls are made - the standard "A",
"G", etc. roUs having basically the same principle of layout.
The Solo Violin Piano is an entirely different breed of cat. The
purpose of this instrument was to render soulfully played music with
expression. It was more of a "serious music" type of piano than was the
AX.
The piano part of the AX has expression provided by a soft pedal
and a sustaining pedal. Apart from the tonal differences imparted by
these the AX plays with the same quality and intensity all the time. The
Solo Violin Piano, on the other hand, has elaborate Welte-inspired
(Wurlitzer used the Welte expression mechanisms under a licensing
agreement and, in fact, even built pianos for the Welte facility at
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) expression devices incorporated into the piano.
This pennits the instrument to be played with more "humanness" or
"feeling" than the AX. The violin pipes of the Solo Violin Piano are 51
in number and are housed in a chamber behind the piano sounding
board. Louvered swell shutters operate with two aperture positions.
This pennits the violin pipes to be: (1) very soft, when the shutters are
completely closed; (2) of medium softness, when tile shutters are open
just slightly; and (3) of "full organ" loudness when the shutters are
open all the way.
The main distinction of the Solo Violin Piano, however, is that the
51 violin pipes are controlled by their own separate perforations
completely different from the perforations which operate the piano
notes. So, rather than having to play the exact same notes as the piano
does at the same time the piano does, the Solo Violin Piano's pipes can
play entirely different notes! The pipes can play solo with the piano as
accompaniment, the piano can play solo with the pipes accompanying,
or either the piano or violin can play alone. This versatility made the
Solo Violin Piano ideal for playing elaborate musical passages.
The Solo Violin Piano was advertised as having "all the expression
and accent necessary to play the best classical music." In the 1920's
coin operated pianos featuring classical music were not as popular as
the more ornate mirrored or art glass fronted "nickelodeons" that
played popular tunes· and for this reason the Solo Violin Piano was not
a success in the marketplace. Only a few survive today.
I
'9
QUESTION: 1 am fascinated by the disc changing Regina music
boxes, and own a nice 15W' Parlor Model in a figured oak case. Are
-103--
J