•Following the thread on metals used in Polyphon disks, at an auction I purchased a portable 9" Polyphon along with a dozen disks which had been nicely wrapped in paper and taped up securely. The auctioneer assured us there were 12 disks and they'd been wrapped for protection. Can you see what's com...

•Pete, Although I've not seen them all(!), I've seen quite a few Roller Organs, and suspect that your organ had been rebuilt before. All those I've seen which I deemed "original" used leather flaps, both inside and out, and those flaps were attached with a single dab of glue at each end of the flaps...

•I realize that there are many people already who repair their rolls and use archival tape to do it with. Nothing wrong with that at all. It's the best tape to use. However, I thought I might mention a few things that you can do with either Scotch "Magic" (frosty) tape or archival tape. The two bigg...

•I recently acquired a number of 1960's QRS and Aeolian piano rolls at an auction. In the lot there were many good rolls which rarely show up in the second-hand market. One of the Aeolian rolls is a cute children's tune with pictures stamped on it. I played it a few times and noticed that I always h...

•I have a small German single singing bird in a cage in need of new rubber bellows. Can anyone lead me to a source? I contacted Ray Lins (MBSI) and he sent me to the clock parts catalog at http://www.slarose.com/ I could not find anything like I am looking for. About five years ago I found another o...

•Norm Gibson wrote in 020824 MMDigest: > I have a small German single singing bird in a cage in need > of new rubber bellows. Can anyone lead me to a source? Black Forest Imports at http://www.blackforestimports.com/ has the parts for these unique mechanics. They have a large stock of parts for othe...

•Hi All, I am looking for suggestions on how to repair a warped sound board on an old (1850s?) street barrel piano. The top part of the frame has been bowed by the tension of the strings, causing the sound board to bow out and press against the strings. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Jack Ha...

•In recent weeks, I have been happily transferring the content of old 8-track tape cartridges over to CDs, using Cool Edit Pro and an old 8-track player I have, that up to now has been working just fine. But this evening, the player ate a tape. Now I have an 8-track cassette with about two feet of t...

•> Am I trying to do something akin to trying to stuff toothpaste back > into the tube? Is there a way of recovering 8-track tapes after such > a discouraging event? Hoo, boy! (That's English for "Oy, vey!") It's very unlikely that your tape machine is at fault. It never hurts to open things up, cle...

•Hi all, Back in the 8-track tape days my folks used to sell 8-track cartridges door to door, to music stores, and at flea markets, to help make the ends meet. The tape coming out of the cartridge was a common problem for some customers. Fortunately the solution is easy. It's weird, but the way that...

•I've had some success, many years ago, repairing 8-track tapes. The tape is standard 1/4" tape with one difference: the tape backing is coated with a dry lubricant so as to make it slide easily in the coil. It will probably be necessary to open up the cassette, observing the location of components ...

•Terry, Firstly, take one Valium or other nerve calming prescription, send the dog, wife and impressionable young children out for the day, clear the table and take a deep breath -- then get stuck in..... The tape cartridges are in two parts and are (a) screwed together, or (b) clipped together with...

•Hi Terry, This is a simple repair. Reassemble the cartridge and slowly pull out more tape from the feeder side to insure that there is nothing binding the tape. Now just hold the 8 track cartridge so the tape opening is facing down, grab a 6 inch section of tape that is hanging from the feeder side...

•It's probably been more than 25 years since I fooled around with 8-track tape cartridges, but I still remember a few things. I actually had an 8-track tape recorder, and used to record music so my dad could listen in his car while driving to work. Clean the capstan roller in the tape deck. Sometime...

•Hi Terry, As to repairing an 8-track tape, you will have to do what l always do. Open the cartridge and start pulling out the tape, being exceptionally careful as you get toward the center of the feed. Once this is done, re-thread the tape, but leave a tail of the tape out of the center, so it can ...

•I recall that an 8-track player pulls the tape out of the center of the reel of tape, and puts it back on the outer rim of the reel. Thus, if you pull one inch of tape out of the center, the reel should wind up two or three inches back on, due to the ratio of diameters. So I would say that if the t...

•My most sincere thanks for all who responded to my dilemma of having my 8-track player eat a lovely tape I was trying to convert to a CD. The fix that a number of you suggested is incredibly simple. I first smoothed out the slightly damaged portion of the tape within the 2-foot loop hanging outside...

•I'm working on an old piano. The action is pretty stiff. According to Reblitz, the ideal answer is to take the pins out and ream the bushings. Not having the tools for this, I'm looking at his alternatives: alcohol/water mixture or center pin lubricant. I've also heard several other chemical altern...

•[ Mike Blackwell wrote in 030205 MMDigest: ] > I'm working on an old piano. The action is pretty stiff. According to > Reblitz, the ideal answer is to take the pins out and ream the bushings. > > Not having the tools for this, I'm looking at his alternatives: > alcohol/water mixture or center pin l...

•Any piano will not play properly if the centre pins are stiff in their bushings. There are about 330 centre pins in the action of an upright piano and even more in a grand piano. Repinning is hardly a task a hobbyist can do properly, for lack of tools, materials, and above all, technique, which can...