I was lucky enough to visit Ed Gaida's shop in San Antonio recently
where I saw him firsthand, punching rolls for the Aeolian Orchestral
Player Organ.  Some of those arrangements really surprised me as to how
good they could make a reed organ sound.  It is good for collectors
that someone is making new rolls for an instrument that has been
largely forgotten by many collectors and the general public.

The best part of this visit was a trip to a machine shop where I could
see firsthand how they make the little pinned ends for his music rolls.
They use a tool I would never have and, boy, does this thing spit out
those pins with the little crimps on them.  They are just like the
originals.  The machine operator then showed me how the die is made to
make two little ears with rounded ear parts and two with squared ears.
Very impressive and it only took him 16 hours to build this little
wonder die.

I need to have some similar ears on the poppet rods for a Coinola stack.
I only need a few of them, so the idea of having someone spend 16 hours
making a die for me seemed unreasonable.  My poppet rod is smaller than
the pins in the Aeolian and a softer metal.

I took a pair of end nippers that I use for cutting piano string.  Then
I heated it just enough to take some of the temper out of the metal,
but not hot enough to glow red.  I then took a carbide bit and drilled
a 3/32-inch hole in the end of the nippers.  I filed the cutting edge
flat.

Stick the poppet wire in the hole squeeze the handle and you have the
same crimp with ears that Coinola had to hold the washers on the poppet
wire.  I use W-2 tool steel for the poppet rods.  Wire gauge 38.

Don Teach - Shreveport Music Co.
Shreveport, Louisiana