Hello, All:  Richard Krasowski Jr. writes that his cylinder is stuck
on the shaft.  This is not an uncommon issue with 100-year old cylinder
musical boxes.  The resin inside the cylinder can melt and sag due to
heat, especially when such an item has been put away in the attic for
a number of years.

This was common after Thomas Edison's phonograph was introduced at
the beginning of the 1900s.  Similar to what we did with our 8-track
players, huh?!  If we didn't throw them in the trash, they were hidden
away for who-knows-why, although we are always glad to find them in an
attic, back of a closet and even in an attic.

To resolve this issue, the cylinder that is stuck on a shaft is mounted
on a lathe and spun, subjecting it to heat (a torch or heat gun) in
order to melt the resin inside the cylinder then spun while it cools so
that the resin adheres to the inside of the cylinder and away from the
shaft.  There are some methods to mount the shaft so as to not damage
the ends of the shaft.

_Caution!_  Too much heat can de-temper the cylinder pins which will
ruin the box.  There are several good instruction books about cylinder
box restoration that go into how to do this.  Ord-Hume's and Webb's
books can be found on the net or on my web site.

If you are not willing to try it yourself, you can always send it off
to a competent restorer.

Musically yours,

Bill Wineburgh
Succasunna, New Jersey
http://antiquemusicbox.us/