•[ Ref. Bryan Smith in 110808 MMDigest ] Since it takes some time for linseed oil to set up, I can only envision this practice causing a complete mess. In a grand piano the linseed oil would run straight down onto the action below; in an upright it would likely run out the bottom of the hole and dow...

•I'm guessing boiled linseed oil would work better than linseed oil at room temperature, but never tried it or heard of it being used. Traditionally piano techs would take the pins out and varnish the holes and/or add sandpaper. Many old piano hacks would even use the back of the tuning "wrench leve...

•Hi All, Yesterday I evaluated the condition of an Aeolian Sting II that had been recently tuned by another individual. I was told that the individual was not a professional piano tuner, but rather a student at a fine arts institution in New York City. According to the customer, the piano sounded pr...

•A good deal of very interesting information has been offered to me in response to my question about comb tuning stretch [140129 MMDigest] I offer my thanks to those who wrote to MMD and those who responded to me directly. There's no need for me to recap the replies published here by Nicholas Simons...

•My thanks to Messers Taylor, Wolff and Walter for their kind words in MMD 15.09.24 regarding my posting in MMD 15.09.23 about what I termed the "Mystery of the Missing Ampico Intensity". First, apologies to Bob for an apparent less-than-thorough viewing on my part of his excellent DVDs about all th...

•For over 40 years now I have restored player pianos, reproducing pianos, nickelodeons, band organs and pipe organs. I have taught many people to do various jobs in this process and a few I have taught the complete comprehensive job of total restoration, most of them so I could pay them to work for ...

•As Steve Bentley most correctly pointed out, it's immaterial if the piano is a player or not -- sound is sound. Player pianos have long suffered slights by those who think the player mechanism "hampers" the piano's natural sound and playing. Many tuners dislike having to work around the player mech...

•Hi guys, I offered to send to the MMD information about a Welte Kabinett (keyboard-less) player that a friend of mine owns and wishes to sell (in the nearby city of Tonawanda, New York). The cabinet is in very fine condition and I have admired it for some time, but don't have the room or finances t...

•For Sale in the UK: Steinway model B Duo-Art pedal/electric grand (7'6" / 228 cm), mahogany, 1928. This piano is a restoration project. All of its Duo-Art Pianola action was removed in the 1960s and it was then used as a piano until I purchased it. Only 12 model B Duo-Art pianos were made, of which...

•For Sale: Rare Dimier, Key wound Pianoforte Music Box. c.1840 "DIMIER & Ce. GENEVE 2990" is stamped on top of the governor. Here is some further information:- The tune sheet is a replacement, but over the years I with the help of friends have been able to identify the tunes. They are 1. Coronation ...

•When I first got the idea of building a knock off version of the Wurlitzer Pianino the rational seemed sound. As you have read, we had coin pianos out on locations. They were heavy... especially the ones where we had built up the cabinet. I always had to hire someone to move them. I figured that if...

I have been rebuilding and restoring reproducing pianos since 1982, and I've owned a player since the age of 14. One question that has not been brought up concerns the springs on the Ampicos -- the crescendo spring on the A's and the spill valve spring on the B's. I have seen an ad in AMICA with new...

Thank you for quickly responding to my subscribe request. To answer your questions, I built the PianoDisc Vorsetzer using their PDS128 model, but I use it most of the time with my PDS 32 sequencer or Mac. I simply use the play unit's MIDI in. I have even interfaced it with my Korg keyboard that the ...

•Hi Sam -- I've had very good success overall with Behlens line of products. They can be obtained by mail-order from most of the major woodworking supply outfits (Woodcraft, Garret Wade, Lee Valley, etc.). For addresses, phone numbers and web sites see http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/woodworkin...

•Hello, my name is Andrew Barrett, and I'm happy to be joining the MMD. I am 11 years old, and my two main interests are automatic musical instruments and mechanical clocks. I read the Digest almost every day, and I found my letter about the Deansboro museum in the Archives. I was so surprised -- I ...

•We have found high pressure in Gavioli organs, 12 to 14 inches water gage, and it's obviously been that way for many years, maybe even original. Any comment from MMD readers? We are also looking for information on an organ we are working on, a Gavioli 87-keyless. It belonged to the Stranginger fami...

•I remember seeing some of these pianos with a copy of a Seeburg roll frame. They seemed to be pretty nice, which makes me think that RAM had nothing to do with them. Farrell's could have bought pianos from several sources since these Ice Cream Parlors were springing up pretty fast. The ones in Litt...

•In reply to Hal Davis regarding the voicing machine. As Hal says, why has it taken so long to come up with a foot-operated wind supply for voicing pipes? This is a superb idea -- the perfect solution, I would think. I made a voicing machine some years ago for experimenting with violin pipes. This u...

•Dear MMD, The auction of Graham Whitehead's mechanical music collection (The Ashorne Hall Nickelodeon) is to be sold at Christie's South Kensington on 18 March, 2004. The collection will remain at Ashorne for viewing before the sale (Sunday 14 March - Tuesday 16th March), and all but the largest pi...

•I seem to remember that the Tel-Electric system was touted as being compatible with the weather on ocean liners of the day because of their brass roll. No documentation on this, I just remember reading it somewhere. It was quite a concept and I found it hard to believe that someone (or some company...