Well, the San Francisco Music Box company remembered my
birthday (they always do =) and sent me a 25% off card
as a present, so I took me off to my local purveyor of
musical hardware to get me something nice.

"Something nice" for me means Reuge.  I have a much too
well-developed taste for the good stuff to have much
use for 18-note Sankyo movements.  Bad news: SFMBC is
discontinuing all their Reuge inventory - they will no
longer be carrying their "heirloom" line at all.  The
good news is, all the ones they have in stock are now
20% off.  That, plus a birthday discount, if you have
one (anyone can have one, just show your license) means
real good values, but only for a while, and after they
are gone, they're gone.  No more good stuff, just the
little tinkle-tinkle jobbies and a smattering of the
32 and 72 note fixed cylinder Reuge movements.  They
may or may not continue to carry the Reuge/Thorins four
and a half inch disk unit in the fancy case.

I bought the 72-note interchangeable unit.  This is
normally $4000, with the 20% discount this is $3200 - and
with my birthday discount, I got it for $2400.  This is
a very handsome unit, a bit over a foot long, and perhaps
eight inches wide, and six deep, with a beautiful,
mirror-like finish.  It plays 15 tunes on five different
cylinders using the company's standard 72 note movement
cleverly adapted for cylinder interchange.  Warning: while
interchangeable, these cylinders are _not_ exchangeable
with other machines from the same series, I tried moving
a cylinder from one of these movements to another and it
sounded absolutely _awful_.

Another caveat: these movements have been gathering dust
in SFMBC warehouses, backrooms, or display cases, sometimes
for _years_.  The one I got was four years old.  These
movements may have gotten a fair amount of mishandling,
and are sensitive to being wound while playing - of the
three interchangeables I looked at, _two_ had real problems
with dampers - they had noticeable squeaks and chirps!  I
daresay the average mall-crawler might not notice them, but
if you are shopping, _don't_ assume it's okay because it
looks so new, give it a _listen_ to.  Ask to try it in the
back room if it is too noisy in the store, and get your ear
right up to it.

This applies to _all_ Reuge movements - I also looked at a
really lovely 4-tune antique reproduction from Reuge, all
hand-built, none of the standard assembly-line parts,
cylinder nearly a foot long, complete with a horizontal
spring motor and old-fashioned governor and it, too, had
chirps.  It was a lovely, lovely job, and I'd have loved
to own it, but I already _have_ music boxes that need
damper work, and I expect restoring my Freres would give
me a better box.  =)

However, the SFMBC lifetime guarantee will continue to be
honored - if you are more patient than I, you can buy a box
and have it sent for repair.  They will continue to honor
the warranties on all boxes they have sold.  They will also
special order boxes, but, as always, there's the risk of
getting something that isn't just what you wanted.

If any of you are in New Hampshire or Mass and go to the
Fox Run Mall in Portmouth NH to the SFMBC there, ask to see
"Rick" and tell him I sent you.  His store has the largest
inventory of these types of movements on the East Coast,
because as they are discontinued in other stores and as
other stores close, these movements are sent to him.  He
also gives the best discounts.

I really like this movement - it is very quiet.  Not at all
like the similar 72-note fixed cylinder movements that I
mounted in the Sears cases, more similar to the 32-note
Thorins disk player.  Like a modern 18-note all grown up,
and unlike the authoritative, sometimes almost brassy sound
of an antique disk machine, or the mellow depth of an antique
cylinder, but still very charming.  It loses some resonance
because of the drawer for the extra cylinders.  But it has
a rather nice, almost intimate sound, as if it were playing
just for you, and it makes a nice addition to my collection.

regards,¶
Larry Smith