Weber Unika Orchestrion Piano Violin Roll Playing 'Narcissus Intermezzo'

Narcissus is a piece of music composed for the piano in 1891 by Ethelbert Nevin.

Gebr. Weber (Weber Brothers) was founded in 1880 in Waldkirch, the Black Forest, Germany. They were a small company which made around two instruments a week (the Grandezza, Maesto, Brabo, Unika and Otero are some of the models of orchestrion made), but the quality and workmanship, and particularly the musical qualities, are among the best ever made worldwide. The musical talents of Gustav Bruder contributed greatly to their success after he joined the company in 1913.

The Unika featured here was made in 1924 and comprises a piano, with expression, accompanied by a rank of violin organ pipes. These are no ordinary off-the-shelf violin pipes, but are meticulously and carefully voiced to sound as close to a real violin as possible - a feat which any organ builder will confirm is extremely difficult. The Unika was the Weber equivalent to the Hupfeld Phonoliszt Violina - that instrument had real violins but required frequent maintenance and tuning, whereas the Unika performs reliably and capably on all types of music.

The capabilities of the Unika include:

61 Playing Notes
Mandolin Attachment
Sustain Pedal
Half Blow (Soft) Bass
Half Blow (Soft0 Treble
Piano Pneumatic Regulator
Violin Pipes
Piano Treble Shutoff
Violin Vibrato
Swell Shutter
Shutoff
Rewind

Quite impressive from just a 66 hole trackerbar - the secret is in the use of a clever duplexing system which uses two simultaneous holes to perform a different function to either of the holes on their own.

The paper roll is 'read' by use of pressure, not the more common vacuum, using a set of pinch rollers and a weighty trackerbar metal roller, similar to that used in paper roll organs. The pinch rollers also pull the paper roll across the trackerbar, ensuring the speed of the roll remains unchanged throughout (the take-up spool has a friction clutch to allow for this).

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• weber
• unika
• orchestrion
• waldkirch
• black
• forest
• schwarzwald
• germany
• gustav
• bruder
• roll
• paper
• violin
• piano
• pipes
• maesto
• grandezza
• otero
• organ

[nickn5nl]

@namaste91 Thank you for your nice comment. This is not my instrument, but it is located in the UK, and has been very well restored, tuned and voiced, a credit to the owner. I can entirely agree with your desire to have a Unika, they are lovely orchestrions.

[namaste91]

Extremly beautiful and lovely sounding orchestrion.

Where is this located? Is this in your own collection?

When i ever get an orchestrion,a Weber Unika would be my first choice to start. :)

Greetings from Germany