Cob Organs started in the late 1880's by the Autophone people. For some hard working folks the thought of a nice upright organ sitting in the parlour of their farmhouse was absolutely wonderful. The new price of $34.95 at Sears Roebuck might have been out of the picture. So back to Sears they went in their horse drawn carriage to look at this new Autophone. This was a small hand cranked pump organ but the music was provided from a cob which when cranked, turned and by activating certain valves produced music.
One of these was brought to me for repair not long ago. I was fascinated by this little box with a crank on it. The first thing in my mind I saw a man standing on the street corner turning
the crank and a monkey dancing in front of him. I was the man turning the crank. Just so you will know which was which!
Send me your cob organ, I'd be happy to make it sound like day one.
No comments:
Post a Comment