Regarding William Finch's comments in Digest 96.11.30: 1. Do you know whether a W150 organ will sound better (or worse) with just tuning rather than equal temperament? The object here is to try it and find out, but if you or someone else has already done it, it would be interesting to hear the resul...

Hi, Well with the weather up here in the frozen midwest, I knew that it was bound to happen. Even with my Wurlitzer 146A band organ in a heated building it just doesn't make any difference, the darn organ is loosing vacuum pressure. Oh the organ plays, but the bells stay on all the time, and when a ...

Thank you Mr. Goodman for sharing your experience with different types of leather. You did not say much about zephyr, but several years ago, I was about to tackle a Seeburg L, which originally had zephyr leather for it's pouches. A well experienced supplier-restorer told me that zephyr skin is not t...

Among my treasures back in the late 40's were a few Connorized rolls. Way back in my memory bank remains a glimmer of something I read on a leaflet attached to a Connorized box. It stated that a Mr. Connor owned the company, and he had patented a process to prevent the paper in his rolls from expand...

To glue the _hollow_ sharps, white glue or carpenter's glue is poured to 1/3 (or so) of the hollow. The sharp keytop is then secured to the keystick with masking tape so the glue will flow down and secure the sharp in place. Allow it to dry overnight. Gluing plastic tops to naturals: PVC-E adhesive ...

Some time ago Kangaroo hide was mentioned rather extensively on the digest and the general opinion was that drought conditions in Australia had affected the quality of the skins available then. I myself received some less than wonderful stuff from Schaffs. Does anyone have information on what is cur...

•Adam G. Ramet asked: > how common are rolls on coloured papers? I saw a 65-note roll cut > on dark green paper once. The commonest kind of Connorized roll in England is not the 88-note variety but well-made 65-note in deep green paper, the maker being shown as Chase & Baker. We are given to underst...

•I once spent some time trying to find out where Wurlitzer bought its green roll paper from, without coming up with any results worth talking about. Early Wurlitzer rolls were on red paper that was not particularly impervious to moisture. Some time around 1915 (a guess) they switched to the green pa...

•Thanks Robbie, for information on the varistor. I guess my main concern is leaving these old pianos with original wiring plugged into a household receptacle when not in use. My Seeburg has all original wire (most of it has mildew on it). I try to disconnect the piano when I am not using it or away ...

•I'm in the process of rebuilding an Ampico pump, from a grand, that is presenting some unusual problems I've not encountered previously. This pump (age unknown) is the type that has wooden connecting rods with spring loaded wedges. It appears that at some point in its life, this pump got wet or was...

•Julian Dyer's comments a few days ago on MMD got me to thinking a bit on the accuracy of copying paper rolls. Specifically, he said that "[copies] were always 'synchronous' -- cut in a punch-advance-punch manner. New rolls to date have pretty well all been non-synchronous copies..." Punches are alw...

•Hello everybody! I think the discussion about the rolls comes close to the point where it is more "academic theory" then anything else. First of all, in those days there was also no "Magic". Several times I've had two copies of the same roll in the workshop, and they were never exactly the same. [ ...

•In Digest 970906 Bob Billings writes: > ... the sub-masters were of the cheapest acidic paper with virtually > no grain. They were so brittle, in some cases, that they could not > even be unrolled without breaking. Could someone give me some tips for prolonging the life of roll paper before it beco...

•I'm slightly surprised it takes someone from this side of the pond to confirm that Aeolian Music Rolls were indeed an offshoot of the Aeolian- American Corporation. I have a folder of old invoices downstairs to prove it ! I bought these rolls in some quantity for only about two years around 1968-9...

•I am looking for help with a Gulbransen player piano and located your address on the Internet. A friend of mine has a Glbransen Player Piano with the glued stack. The three tier boards are glued and screwed (4 on each tier) to the chest so I assume it is a "glued" player. He had started to disassem...

•John M. Ross wrote: > I have mould forming in my glue pot. I have tried cleaning the pot, > and mixing a new batch. When I come back a week later to use it, > patches of mould have formed. It is not easy to keep mould out of a glue-pot, but it should last several months without it. The mould could ...

•Greetings: I understand my newly acquired Steck Duo-Art upright is pre-1930. Any more info? Serial number is 63697 (Aeolian Duo-Art Pianola). Expect to have it serviced soon, but in meanwhile, a question. It barely plays unless "squeeze levers" are pulled together with a rubber band. Then it seems ...

•First of all I will say that I am no expert in the field of band organs at all. I have tuned and worked on a few. In regard to identical band organs sounding different, I feel that the reason relates to their tuning. The majority of people have no idea if an instrument is in tune or not (even some ...

•Hi All, Tom Gregory writes: "I received a call this evening from a gentleman who wishes to sell a Universal Player Company player piano located in southeast Wisconsin. He asked me to see the piano and give an estimate of the instrument's value." Since the Universal Player Piano used the pre-formed ...

•I have a 150 Spec organ and it was formerly a North Tonawanda. ('150 Spec' denotes a non-Wurlitzer organ converted to play 150 rolls.) It has 129 pipes in it. Among the resources are two sets of violin melody 8' pipes and two sets of accompaniment violin 8' pipes. They do give the organ a distinct ...