DeBence Antique Music World was called by Wendell August Forge
a couple months back, and we went down last month and tuned their
Stafford nickelodeon for them.  However there are a myriad of other
problems as the nickelodeon has been played a lot and looks like it
has not been serviced for a long while.

It has about twelve broken strings.  We removed the ones lying across
adjacent strings which helped the sound some.  It has about eight notes
that do not play, either because all strings for that note are broken,
the hammer is broken or the tracker bar tubing is disconnected.
(I don't know why, but assume it means another problem.)  We did not
attempt to do anything about the "missing" notes.

The tambourine had played so much the supports had fatigued and broken
off.  We patched that.  The wood frame had broken a screw and was wired
in place.  I fixed that.  The tambourine pneumatic had holes, I patched
that with tape which obviously will not last long.

The current plan is for us to do a real overhaul next winter during
their slow season.  If you want to hear what it should sound like,
stop by at DeBence as we have an almost identical machine in good
condition.

Scotty Greene - DeBence Antique Music World
Franklin, Pennsylvania

 [ More about the Stafford nickelodeon at
 [ http://www.staffordsnickelodeonwarehouse.com/
 [ -- Robbie