Name This Instrument

[Gordon Wilson]

On Sat, 12 Oct 1996, William Maxim wrote:

> Sy -
>
> You wrote
>
> >Date:	Fri, 11 Oct 1996 23:06:41 -0600
> >From:	Sy Zabrocki <only4zab@imt.net>
> >Sender:	owner-pianotech@byu.edu
> >To:	"'Pianotech'" <pianotech@byu.edu>
> >cc:	"'Sy Zabrocki'" <only4zab@imt.net>
> >Subject:	Name This Instrument
> >
> >One of my customers has an unusual instrument. I promised him I
> would use
> > this media to at least find out it's proper name.
> >
> >It looks just like an old upright piano but it is an organ. The
> name on
> > the fallboard is Sears & Roebuck. The cabinet is mahogany with
> some
> > flower type designs in the music board. It has 88 keys. The left
> right
> > pedals are actually treadles and the middle pedal is a coupler.
> There are
> > three stops which pull out like an old reed organ. There are
> probably
> > three or four sets of reeds. It still plays quite well.
> >
> >This is about the third one of these I've found down through the
> years.
> > I've seen a couple also that looked like an small old square
> grand. I
> > thought there was a name like "manualo" or something similar for
> these
> > instruments.
> >
> >Naturally this owner is curious if there is antique value. He
> would like
> > any information that might be out there in musicland.
> >
> >Help us out on the name if possible please.
> >
> >Sy Zabrocki
> >
> > possible please.
> >
> >Sy Zabrocki
> >
> It is a reed organ.  I have serviced (cleaned, repaired, etc) two
> of them over the years.  One was made by Cornish, and I can't
> remember the other.  I will forward your request to the Reed Organ
> Society and see what I come up with.
>
> Bill Maxim, RPT
>


Hi!

An interesting sidelight to this story is <why> they looked like pianos.

In their heyday, reed-organs were pitched to families who couldn't afford
pianos.  Consequently the budget-priced organ was made to look like a piano
so your guest would think you actually <had> a piano.

Kind of like the current practice of putting digital pianos in grand cases,
eh?!

Gordon


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       Gordon Wilson                      Keyboard Studio
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