•This past year I have been devoting more attention to restoring and maintaining my own instruments. My recent efforts involve a Mason & Hamlin RBB with an Ampico A mechanism. When I acquired this piano in 1987 the pneumatic stack had already been recovered many years earlier by someone else, but al...

•In the Cremona lexicon, "Style G" refers to the case style, not the music it plays. The typical Cremona Style G instrument with pipes plays a Style "A" music roll. The taller case provides abundant space for pipework. Here is a video of a Cremona G in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58AlPFZ...

•I am looking for a pneumatic stack for my Coinola "A" roll piano. A previous owner must have removed it to work on it. The serial number is 131156. Any observations from the photo included would be helpful; what year and model is this? Marquette "A" roll 2087 is on the roll frame, but has no label ...

•Morris Museum News: A new addition for visitors to enjoy in the Guinness Collection Entry Gallery (a rotating display) is a rare "Orchestre Complet", tbl. mdl. Intch. cyl. musical box by B.A. Bremond, Geneva, Switzerland, dating from 1867, made shortly after the Exposition Universal took place in P...

•The AMICA Bulletin's November - December, 2019 issue has been completed. Electronic pdf edition subscribers should be receiving their issue about now. Print edition subscribers should have theirs around October 15. This issue has a variety of feature articles sure to please any mechanical music ent...

•Hi, My friend, Bob, and his daughter, Anita, are restoring an antique Bruder barrel organ. The organ has some interesting features, including eight boxwood pipes on the front that look like recorders. Another interesting feature of this organ is on the base. As usual, there is a marquetry decoratio...

•For sale: M. J. Paillard & Co. Music Box, circa 1870-1880 This fine quality Swiss music box is in excellent condition commiserate with an age of almost 150 years. The case is in beautiful condition with no damage to the magnificent marquetry, which is intact with no missing or lifting veneer. The m...

•[ Ref. Jim Quashnock in 230409 MMDigest Hi Jim and dear MMDer's, Despite the fact that I did not put my hands inside, it seems this organ was made by Gavioli. The pipework, the floral marquetry at the bottom of the facade and the mechanical parts are of this origin. The number (6417) is coherent wi...

•Hello, Recently I was able to buy a very rare polytype music box. The nickel-plated mechanism has 4 cylinders 33cm long: 1 sublime harmony, 1 piccolo, 1 tremolo, 1 with the 3 settings divided over the 6 tunes. It is made by Allard and in a good playing condition with all the teeth original and the ...

"Harley-Davidson battles for 'Soundmark'", rumbled the headline in my local newspaper this morning (Sunday 10 Feb 1996, from Knight- Ridder News Service). > The company claims that the sound made by its famous motorcycle > engine is uniquely its own, and they want exclusive rights to the > sound. "W...

Please add me to your list. My address is BSnakeC@AOL.com [ Editor's Note: Done. I also need some advice, and hope I can get some help. [ Editor's Note: I submit the following to the group for advice. I have always wanted a player piano, and about 10 years ago bought for $200.00 an unrestored Broadw...

Having had many pianos in my house, several at a time (we walked sideways), I can tell you the old story we used to tell hesitant customers in the Baldwin Piano and Organ store many years ago. If you were to cut out a piece of paper the size of the floor space taken by a small spinet upright piano, ...

•Jim Edwards was asking whether the Boesendorfer used in a TV programme on Rachmaninoff was a proper Ampico. The brief answer is yes, as Dan Wilson said yesterday. Until recently I couldn't have given you much more information than this. However, when loaned a pile of papers recently, there was quit...

•In MMD 12/3/98 Bryan Cather mentions "other odd pianos" and includes one without a pinblock. I have recently restored a Beale player and they have no wooden pinblock. They use a system designed by Vader (German) which has a full cast plate and which is about 1" thick where the pins go. The pins hav...

•Here are my results of the past year of research of Foster & Co. pianos. The art case Foster was built in 1912-1914. A few more examples of these pianos have surfaced. A very few of these were oak veneer, and even rarer is rosewood or burl walnut. This piano cost about $650 new, FOB Rochester NY. O...

•Hello MMD readers, This term of "half" for Duo-Art -- as if an electric model with two accordion pneumatics equals a "whole" (or something 'more' in music) -- is a recently-coined false expression. (It appears to have originated in the U.K. during the 1970's, from what I can gather.) The fact is, t...

•Joe Orens wrote [990202 MMDigest]: >I have found reference in early Aeolian literature to a roll playing >instrument called the Aeriola. I cannot find it listed in the usual >sources. I would appreciate learning what kind of mechanical >instrument it is. I've seen two Aerolias. One is a flat-top 65...

•Hello everyone, I have been quietly reading posts here for some time. Finally, I would like to participate in some discussions and get some suggestions and input from all of you. I have a piano business, Carriage House Music, located south of Portland Oregon. We have been here for 5-1/2 years and w...

•Greetings all. In MMD 991122 Andrew Barrett writes, "... from the description in Rebuilding the Player Piano, [the Cecilian action] is a double hernia (triple, even! :-) and is virtually unrestorable." And Gary Rasmussen writes, "The reason mine never got rebuilt was because of the pot metal player...

•Hello MMD readers, Just read a posting about the Baby Ampico, promoted with the A-type of Amphion action, from 1927 to approximately 1931, and perhaps a bit later, depending upon the factory inventory. These were very popular in Maine summer camps and seaside cottages, many still on location when w...