Hello, I just came back from [Merle Norman Museum at] San Sylmar.
Wow!  Everything was spotless, and the music room was all decked out
for Christmas, with a huge tree and even garlands hanging down from the
orchestrions!  I got to hear a Seeburg E (with violin pipes) in an L
case, a double Violano-Virtuoso, and the Hupfeld Excelsior Pan, not to
mention the _huge_ 73-rank theatre organ.

I have been re-reading the Archives section on Ragtime Automated Music,
and have heard supposedly what works, and what doesn't.  From the idea
I get, the stack is okay as long as you pull out the valve stem, spray
the valves with TFE, recover the pneumatics, and either brace the stack
in many places, or build a support out of maple.  I have examined the
organ pipes up close, and would say that they would work very well, if
provided with good pipe valves.

The spool frames two main problems seem to be (1) lack of good support,
and (2) plastic bearings.  The trackerbar is also a problem, but
perhaps someone out there can come up with a better one.  The support
plates were described to me, and they seem to be made in layers of 1/8"
or 1/4" thick pieces of plastic.  When the weather changes, they pull
apart and don't provide enough support.

I intend to overcome this by having R.A.M. prepare a plastic mold for
a one-inch thick block of the right size (of plastic), something like
a block of wood.  This, if coupled with steel rods (plate spacers)
bolted to the plastic "blocks" would, at least in theory, provide
excellent support.  Now, the transmission can be improved by simply
(1) changing the bearings from metal to wood, and (2) devising a better
regulator for the 12-volt motor.  I think then that the Ragtime
products would be more durable, marketable, and have less problems.
I, too, think the concept is a good one.  (I think a metal trackerbar
would help, too.)

Sincerely,

Andrew E. Barrett