I am a proud new owner of a very nice Piano Melodico (not the one
currently on eBay) so I'm now going through the "What's this? Should
I do that?" phase and reading all the related information in the MMD
Archives on the subject.  And, of course, I have a few questions that
I hope someone can answer for me.  (It's a 44-note piano in a nice,
plain case, not a "baby grand".)

1. Where is the manufacture date hidden? So far, about all I know
about this piano is a few numbers stamped or engraved in different
body parts: 1815 (that 8 could be a 3) and 1345.  How indicative of
birth date are those numbers?

2. How should I clean the innards?  There's a fair amount of dust
coating just about everything and I seem to feel that has to go.

3. I'm not much of an opera fan.  A little is okay -- like about
4-1/2 inches of "La Boheme".  Is the Racca museum in Bologna the source
for some popular tunes, etc., or is there someone in the U.S. I should
contact?

4. Does anyone have a rough idea of how much the 44-note Piano Melodico
weighs?  I'm shopping for a nice table for it and I don't want it to
bring everything crashing down.

And, yes, it's really a neat piece of mechanical music.  Thanks for
helping.

Jack Mindy

 [ Some useful links:
 [   http://www.pianomelodico.com/english/main.htm 
 [   https://www.mmdigest.com/archives/KWIC/R/racca.html 
 [   https://www.mmdigest.com/archives/KWIC/M/melodico.html 
 [ -- Robbie