Bob Oppeheim asked about repairing torn and broken book music.  There
are several ways to enhance the life of old books.  The most common
problems are torn or worn bridges between notes caused by key wear.
These can be filled in with cut pieces of card board and good glue.

I have seem books from Europe repaired with what looked like a glue
& sawdust mixture.  The glue was very hard and brittle, possibly hide
glue, and it certainly did the job.

To strengthen a weak bridge I have also glued a strip of card on
top of the weak bridge using Elmer's wood glue.  When playing the book
the keyframe roller will ride over this small hump.  If a section is
damaged that part can be cut out and replaced with the same size piece
of blank card gluing it in using a butt joint.  If you feel it needs
to have a stronger glue joint you can glue a strip of paper over the
seam.  After this repair you can then re-punch the book using the
damaged part as a pattern.

There are two ways to repair a hinge.  Using a paper cutter, cut out
the bad hinge an inch or so back and replace with a blank book hinge
the same size.  When I do this I use a thin strip of paper glued on
each side of the butt joint.  Then re-punch the repaired section.

You can also repair the hinge with tape.  I use 3M Tedlar 2" tape.
Fred Dahlinger told me about this product many years ago.  Tedlar is
a plastic film all-weather product but it also comes in tape form.
It is hard to buy in less than case lots and is expensive but it does
work and will last longer than the rest of the book.  With a quick
Internet search I did find a company that will sell a single roll of
3" Tedlar for $52.53.

I put a piece of tape the length of the book covering the hinge and
then cut out the holes using a punch or razor blade and then I put tape
on the other side and do the same cutting.  Other than a noticeable
white band, the book will fold and play just fine.  If the book is
beyond repair it will be worth it to get blank book and re-punch the
entire book.  Often the best books were the ones that got the most play
and therefore the most wear.

Most books were shellacked on the bottom side to strengthen the card
and reduce wear.  I have several Limonaire books that were never
shellacked.  I shellacked them and thus increased the books life.  Any
book made of soft card can be re-coated with shellac.

I will be giving a workshop on repairing and recutting book music at
the annual MBSI convention held in Minneapolis this year.

Bill Nunn - In Minnesota where the grass is starting to get green!