Reassembling the Nidd Hall
Welte Style 6 Orchestrion

(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)

The reassembled main chassis of the Welte Style 6 Concert Orchestrion. The roll frame is connected to the pneumatic stack with small diameter brass tubing. Reminiscent of how early tracker pipe organs were built, the little pneumatics on the stack connect by means of small gauge vertical wires to little brass bellcranks on the backside of the pipe chest. The little bellcranks, in turn, pull on a horizontal wire that opens a pallet valve situated deep within the intricately channeled pipe chest. (A bellcrank is a type of crank that changes the direction of motion through an angel, which in this case is a 90 degree angle.)

The vacuum and windpressure feeder system (sealed with red paper to make the wood pump structure air-tight) occupies the entire bottom of the case. At left are three vacuum bellows, and to the right are three windpressure bellows. There are two crankshafts, one above the center vacuum bellows and the other above the center pressure bellows. The crankshafts run straight back through the organ, each having a large pulley on the back end. Belts connect them to each other and the motor drive.

(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)

With the furniture case now erected, and with much of the pipework yet to be installed, the bass drum action and its tubing connections are revealed. The bass drum action has four motor pneumatics. The two side beaters with the small pneumatics are for the tympani effect. The large center beater has a wire extending from the top of the wooden knob that strikes the cymbal. Notice that there are two relatively large pneumatics for the combined bass drum/cymbal strike, one being smaller than the other. This arrangement affords a degree of drum expression. The smaller pneumatic used alone plays the bass drum/cymbal softly; the larger pneumatic used alone is louder; and both pneumatics used simultaneously are the loudest.

(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)

Now surrounded by only the ornate oak case framework, the interior chassis of the large Welte Style 6 Concert Orchestrion remains easily accessible. Only three ranks of wooden pipes—octave (the smallest rank), wald flöte, and gedeckt pipes—have been installed. Here the bass drum and cymbal fit snugly between the longer, symmetrically-arranged open and stopped accompaniment and bass pipes.

(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)

In this picture, the frontal clarinet and zinn ranks are yet to be installed, fully exposing the sunburst arrangement of the trompette (trumpet) pipes in the middle, flanked on both sides by the larger posaune (trombone). The bass drum and cymbal can be seen peeking over the top of the center brass trumpet resonators.

(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)

In this frontal view of the roll frame area, the pedestal mounted 3-lobe circular windmotor that powers the forward motion of the music roll is visible to the right of the roll frame. To the left of the roll frame is the snare drum assembly with a pneumatically controlled reiterating action.

(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)

Detail work for the center section of the great Welte orchestrion. Notice the ornate cast metal scrolls that extend outward on either side of the roll frame, an extra ornamentation that was attached only in the largest Welte orchestrions—Style 5 and larger. The clarinet pipes with tapered metal resonators are in their own separate chamber directly above the roll mechanism, and the cylindrical metal “Zinn” pipes are partially visible behind. These two displayed ranks of pipes are both decorative and musically functional.

The top plaque reads: "M. Welte & Söhne; Freiburg I/B - New York." The lower plaque reads: "S. Troll (late Geo. Baker & Co.); Geneva (Swilzerland)," the distributor who sold the Welte to the Nidd Hall owner in 1899.

(Photograph courtesy of Ken Goldman)

The magnificent Welte Style 6 Concert Orchestrion standing rebuilt and resplendent in its original and ornately carved oak case in Durward Center's home. Once restoration is complete the Welte will be delivered to Ken Goldman. While in Nidd Hall the Welte's chassis was installed in what might be described as a tight fitting "cupboard," with only minimal access to the chassis from behind a door. The elaborate casework was never used, but fortunately discovered abandoned and stored in a dusky cellar beneath Nidd Hall, whereupon it was later reunited with the Welte's internal mechanical chassis. The original Welte roll library can be seen in the cabinets to the left of the instrument.