Mechanical Music Registry Project

The Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledgers

Courtesy of David Reidy and Dana Johnson

Much of the information shared on this page was made available in 2011 on the Wurlitzer Band Organ Ledgers page, but in an obfuscated way achieved by mixing the Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledger information in with other sources of Wurlitzer Band Organ information. Then, Dana Johnson, the current owner of the ledgers as of March 2025, gave permission to make the Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledger information directly available without any attempted obfuscation, resulting in this new presentation, which made its debut on April 17, 2025.

Preface

On September 17, 1945, the Rudolf Wurlitzer Company officially sent a letter of conveyance to the Allan Herschell Company for Wurlitzer’s Band Organ and Music Roll Departments. However, the Allan Herschell Company rather quickly became disenchanted and sold the recently acquired Wurlitzer band organ and music roll business and associated equipment to Ralph Tussing, who had at one time worked in the very Wurlitzer factory departments he was in the process of buying. The new Tussing business was incorporated as the T.R.T. Manufacturing Company on January 13, 1947. T.R.T was basically a one-man operation that repaired band organs and produced a limited number of new band organ music rolls. Ralph Tussing died on June 29, 1974, and soon thereafter the T.R.T. Manufacturing Company was put up for sale. Then, in 1975, Doyle Lane (doing business as the Player Piano Centre) purchased what was probably the majority of the inventory of the T.R.T Manufacturing Company.

At some point, Don Rand, an enthusiastic and prolific collector of automatic musical instruments, acquired the three Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledgers from Doyle Lane. The next owner, David Reidy, a collector located in Santa Ana, California, bought the three ledgers from Don Rand in late 2009. After David Reidy’s death on September 8, 2024, the three Wurlitzer ledgers were acquired by John Eckman, a collector of mechanical music machines, from David’s wife, Dianne Reidy. And then, lastly, in March of 2025, John Eckman gifted the Wurlitzer ledgers to Dana Johnson, also a collector of mechanical music machines. In early April Dana contacted me, Terry Hathaway, to let me know that he now had possession of the three Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledgers and that he desired to have the information in them made available to all, without any of the previously mandated deliberate obfuscations.

Introduction

It was in October of 2009 when David Reidy contacted me in regard to how he might preserve the Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledger information, which he had just recently acquired. David recognized the historic value of the ledgers, and wanted to do something that ensured the information survived. One way to do this was to scan the ledgers and make the information widely available. But for David there was the problem of how to do this without devaluing the monetary value of the ledgers, a generous amount happily paid for the set of three aged ledgers. Nonetheless, I quickly agreed to participate in preserving and helping to make this historical information available on a widespread basis, albeit for the foreseeable future in an obfuscated way, so as to hopefully protect the future value of the ledgers.

After a few back and forth discussions, it was agreed that David Reidy would send me the three Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledgers, which were dispatched via FedEx on November 1, 2009. My agreement was that I would make high-resolution grayscale scans of each ledger page to capture text detail, and then otherwise take color photographs of the ledger pages for posterity, although for the foreseeable future the grayscale scans and photographs would be kept strictly private. Thus, the ledgers were dutifully scanned in grayscale to capture fluctuating content detail and then, once scanning was completed, the ledger pages were photographed in color for a more natural look whenever detail was not the primary purpose. Additionally, the ledger information was also hand-keyed into a MS Access database, which was used to accurately reflect each ledger’s content, as well as mix and integrate the shipping dock ledger information into and with already extant Wurlitzer band organ, PianOrchestra, and Paganini database information, thereby obfuscating the ledger content while still making it all widely available.

This was done, with the first iteration of a new database structure stabilized by December 2, 2010, and with a second more polished iteration operational by April 4, 2011. Moreover, while the actual database material was technically to be made available, it was to be integrated into other already known information, blurring the exact content of the ledgers. And so, the extensive band organ content was mixed into and integrated with all other known Wurlitzer band organ information, with the Wurlitzer PianOrchestra and Paganini information integrated with all the other already known and published information. As such, the ledger information was published and made available to anyone who wanted it, while it was also essentially concealed by mixing it in with lots of other similar data. This cloaking scheme satisfied David Reidy and it survived his death in 2024.

Then in early April of 2025, Dana Johnson telephoned me to inform me that he now held ownership of the three Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledgers, and that he wanted the original disambiguated ledger information to be made available to all mechanical music enthusiasts, without the previous agreed upon cloaking obfuscations. Thus, thanks to Dana Johnson, the Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledger information is now being made available exactly as it was recorded—except in a page-by-page picturesque way. I had toyed with the idea of producing a PDF file showing in color each page spread exactly as they appeared in each ledger. The problem with this approach was the enormous file size, for which the combined space required to store the three PDF format files exceeded the available free space on the Mechanical Music Press hosting server.

Terry Hathaway
April 11, 2025

General Observations and Notes

1. In numerous notations, “WHW” are the initials of Walter H. Wendell, Vice-President and General Manager of the Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company, North Tonawanda, N.Y.
2. Throughout the ledgers the term “Gebruder” was consistently used to represent Gebruder Bruder organs. This deficiency has been corrected to either “Gebr. Bruder” or “Gebrüder [Bruder]” depending upon field space limitations.
3. Numerous early deKleist built Wurlitzer organs have the notation “P” associated with the ledger entry. This is speculated to suggest that these small organs may have been fitted with a “Panorama” device once offered by deKleist at extra cost.
4. The original ledger material has been slightly edited and obvious spelling and location errors corrected, but in all instances the original intent has been preserved. Otherwise, the reader would be confronted with an endless array of annoying “(sic)” notations.
5. Instruments shipped to R,W.Co. in Podunk, USA, does not necessarily indicate that the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company had an agent there; these deliveries were to be called for by someone—a dealer, an amusement park operator, etc.—a Rudolph Wurlitzer Company customer.
6. David Reidy suggested that it was customary to ask operators to ship their band organ to Wurlitzer’s North Tonawanda factory at the end of a season, to be repaired over the winter months. This assertion has not been studied by this author, and so a reader might find it interesting to see if there is a surge in outbound shipping dates during Springtime, as opposed to shipping during the cold autumn months.

Band Organ Key Equivalents (as Mentioned in the Ledgers)

• Style #18 Band Organ = 41 key
• Style #18-C Band Organ = 48 key
• Style #20-C Band Organ = 48 key
• Style #149 Band Organ = 47 key
• Style #150 Special Band Organ= 46 key

Shipping Dock Ledger Details

Throughout all three of the shipping dock ledgers, the serial numbers for certain band organs, PianOrchestras, and Paganini class machines are underlined with either a blue or red pencil. A blue underline indicates the instrument was rebuilt, and in some cases a band organ was remodeled to play Wurlitzer music rolls. A red underline signifies that the instrument is either a PianOrchestra or Paganini class instrument.

The Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledger Database

All of the information that went into building up the Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledger database was exactingly obtained line-by-line from the three Wurlitzer ledgers described herein, and from no other source. The database in this instance can be said to be pure, unadulterated Wurlitzer bookkeeping. This treasure trove of long ago assembled information, now available in database format, and never before brought together in any comprehensive, easily searchable, understandable, and displayable way, is now conveniently available to anyone interested. Moreover, the result of this in-depth compilation helps reveal more details regarding the inventive trends followed by Wurlitzer engineers and technicians, they continually revising and improving the mechanical aspects of their automatic musical line over time. And as more and more details emerge regarding the mechanical details and usage patterns for various inventions and improvements, a much clearer picture of the development and evolution of Wurlitzer systems reveals itself, often in new and interesting ways.

Database Maintenance and Update Status

As of January 1, 2025, the Registry’s ongoing study effort to better understand and share the evolution of various player or coin piano brands has been suspended. However, this suspension has no discernible effect on this particular database. This is because once it was fully populated, it became hereinafter static. Consequently, this Registry page and the historical information it contains will continue to be made available for continued study and reader enjoyment.

Distribution of Database Information
Database Finalized on April 4, 2011

The database PDF report files require Adobe Acrobat Reader (or its equivalent) to view, use, or print their contents. The free Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from Adobe by clicking on the icon at left.

Download the current database reports as a PDF file by clicking on the appropriate report button below.
73 pages.	276 pages.
74 Pages	279 pages.
132 Pages	241 pages.
The Wurlitzer Shipping Dock Ledger information for PianOrchestras and Paganini Violin Orchestrions has been made more complete by incorporating twelve (12) otherwise missing instruments. These alternate sources can be identified by observing the “Ledger #” column, as per the following notations: (FW List) Farny Wurlitzer list: A list of PianOrchestras that Farny Wurlitzer kept in his office. (DoIM Ency) Wurlitzer Disposition of Instruments Manufactured (DoIM) ledger, in this instance from an incomplete list of Mandolin PianOrchestras in the Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments by Q. David Bowers (pages 681-682). (QDB Unk) Q David Bowers information for an unknown source.
24 pages.	23 pages.
The Category Type Remodels report lists instruments that were factory remodeled by converting them from folding cardboard music to some type of Wurlitzer music roll, or that were rebuilt to play a different type of music roll.
30 pages.

All database report information is offered "as is," without any guarantee or warranty whatsoever of any kind, neither stated, implied, nor inferred, as to the accuracy, correctness, exactness, suitability, or usefulness of any content.

Credits:

Page composition and layout by Terry Hathaway.

Photographs:

Photographs: Terry Hathaway.

Source material:

David Reidy (2009-2010) and Dana Johnson (2025).

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