•Mr. Dewey wrote: "...leaf wasps had invaded the main chest..." That doesn't take long to happen and can be quite dangerous. My team of employees and I went for a two weeks summer vacations break in 1992. The week before we partially installed the two main windchests in an organ I had under construc...

•A large part of the Daphne Ladell collection of Automata and Musical Boxes has now been sold. There are plenty of small novelty-type items but also the following much larger items left for sale, priced in UK £ sterling and to be collected by your agent from Surrey, England. If you would like a full...

•I am wondering, regarding this topic, if anyone has checked something else regarding resonances that just seem so obvious to me. First of all, you cannot change a round pipe into a square one or vice-versa, nor a wooden pipe into a metal one. You can build a diapason in either type, same scale and ...

•Craig Brougher writes in MMDigest 990320: > I am wondering, regarding this topic, if anyone has checked something > else regarding resonances that just seem so obvious to me. Well, as a pipe organ builder who runs their own pipe shop, I would like to make a feeble attempt to speak to this if I may...

•Gerry Bay commented that there is a tracking problem with a Duo-Art. While it does sound like there isn't too much he can do for just a few rolls that don't track, I have found that one can add a little more tracking power to accommodate wide and narrow rolls by replacing the tracking finger pads w...

•-- forwarded message, please reply to sender and MMD -- "Sharahazad" was originally thought to have been built in 1901, however that centenary has been and gone, so I think that it was actually built in 1907 -- only 5 years to go! I've celebrated many centenaries with this organ as the numbering sy...

•Darrell Clarke said a friend of his had a problem with a Standard action tracking system which seemed to tear rolls on rewind. While there could be a dozen reasons for this, I will assume that it is retubed correctly, the screens are clean, that the outside hole pair automatically cut out when the ...

•Hi Susan Robinson and friends! I had the great pleasure of visiting the Great Dorset Steam Fair last year, 2003, which was it's 35th anniversary. I have the great luck of knowing Mr. Boz Oram, who is not only a regular at the Great Dorset but also a showman extraordinaire. Boz and I traveled to the...

> Pete, > After reading your letter to the A.M.D I thought you might be the right > person to ask a question. I have always wanted to try spraying lacquer > but was afraid of the flash fire risk from the vapors. Is this a big > risk? My shop is a room that is under my garage and I only have three > ...

•Bonjour Francoise, The Journal of the Musical Box Society of Great Britain, "The Music Box", Vol. 19 No. 2 Summer 1999, page 41-43, has an article "Simple Automaton Mechanisms" by Mr. A.J.L. Wright. Mr. Alan Pratt, the editor of the Music Box, said that the Journal "provides the would-be constructo...

•Listen to Craig Brougher about upright hammers -- he knows what he's talking about! I didn't believe him until I ran into the same problem. Enter one 1913 Foster & Co. player upright I had restrung a few years earlier. This piano got a replacement plate and a new pinblock, and after all that work I...

•Hi, I was wondering if there was anybody out there who had actually built a singing bird cage. After reading Mr. Wrights article I decided to give it a go. I considered many times to copy a modern cage, but when I saw the article, I knew I wanted to build one along those lines. Mine actually isn't ...

•What is the best way to strip the old finish on a piano? On my radios and TVs I generally use Formby's stripper or one of the generic or less expensive copies. I have also use paste strippers. In my experience the paste stripper is faster, but it raises the nap of the wood and removes the old patin...

•We use 5F5 for elaborate detail; other than that, we scrape. It is faster and far less toxic. Sharp scrapers are paramount. Regards, Jon Page, piano technician Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.

•If you want to strip the old piano finish without removing patina, then the gentle method is the way. This is only for pianos that have original finish and no paint over that. The old finish is shellac. It will melt off with denatured alcohol or methanol. I will tell you my old method. Slop methano...

•Thanks for the info on stripping. Actually, D. L., your "stronger" mixture is pretty close to what I think is in stuff like Formby's (Checker, other less expensive). I have always used it on old radios and TVs, but the approach is to moisten a steel wool pad and do a small area at a time. The pad p...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- I was browsing the net and ran across the request by Diane H. Kay in 020103 MMDigest for help with a singing bird repair. If she is still in need of assistance, I can help. Singing bird bellows and movement restoration are a specialty in my shop...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- Can any one tell me about these automated singing birds. They look and do the same things as the ones made in Germany, but I haven't had any luck finding info on them or how old it might be. Lynzie

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- Please, can you provide me with some assistance? I have recently inherited a Freres Rochat singing bird box (number 141, date of manufacture 1815, I think). Do you know where I could get some information about this item? I have carried out an Int...

•The definitive book on singing bird boxes is "Mechanical Singing-bird Tabatieres", by Geoffrey T. Mason, published by Robert Hale, ISBN 0 7090 6303 2. This even has a colour picture of a Rochat box on the front cover. Mr. Turner should consider himself very lucky indeed to have acquired such a box ...