•> ... we are not getting enough sustain on the high notes ... One easy way of obtaining longer ring times is the use of resonators. A tuned resonator, acoustically coupled to the bar, will noticeably extend the note as it does for instruments like the marimba and celesta ("Chrysoglott" in a theatre...

•[ In 090410 MMDigest, "Tuning North Tonawanda Band Organ", [ Alan Erb wrote: > A set of brass has some half-length resonators, and it is imperative > to get correct resonators assigned to their proper note and octave. To further an understanding of the resonator length of the Wurlitzer and North To...

•I'm hoping those of you with expertise in this area might help me out. I have a rank of Aeolian's free-reed clarinet pipes, and on a few of the pipes previous tuners have had to push the resonators so far down past the solder blob that the resonators have split along the solder seam. For some reaso...

•Al, it sounds like you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned your box is "heavy in lubricant." If there is a contamination of oil between the lead resonators, they are just going to make a weak "plopping" sound instead of a nice crisp resonant ring. The same applies for the dampers, contamina...

•I would like to add a rank of trombone pipes to a band organ I am building. I have the Doyle Lane details for the Wurlitzer 165 trombone reeds, but have no information on the dimensions of the resonators. Could anyone please provide, or point me to, some (any) trombone resonator scales which I can ...

In a message dated 95-12-06 13:24:51 EST, Linnstaedt writes: > In contrast, a true dopplefloete is a single wooden pipe (usually stopped) > with two mouths on opposite sides. You are, of course, correct. I was lead from the description of a single pipe resonator with three different reeds to thought...

First, thanks Nancy for writing the first comprehensive tips in the MDD on this important topic. I remember that Larry Karp wrote a story for the MBSI News Bulletin of the horrors he experienced in shipping a music box a couple of years ago. I strongly support the concept of using air freight. So lo...

•Once again I have discovered a valuable article deep down in my files, in Mecanix Illustrated (their spelling not mine -- cutesy, no? And then they complain that our kids can't spell!). Many years ago, in the 1950's, while I was in high school, this magazine ran a how-to article on how to build a M...

•Help! Yesterday two of my neighbors arrived at my door with a beautiful Regina music box that they wanted to sell to me. It is a double comb box, and has twenty disks with it. Unfortunately, the tone is terrible. Nothing bent that I can see, and only a few of the treble notes play well. The bass en...

•Bruce Clark wrote: > Nothing bent that I can see, and only a few of the treble notes play > well. The bass end of the scale is working and no teeth are broken, but > from the middle section down there is a dull clunk whenever a note is > played. I even pushed a few bass star wheels to see if it was...

•Does anybody have the dimensions for the 5 bass trombone notes in a Wurlitzer 105 Style or larger organ? I built from scratch the 105 with the Bourdon Pipes but would like to add the wooden Trombones. I have the shallots and reeds and tuning wires but I need the dimensions of the resonators: length...

•Does anyone out there have an early 3-tune or 5-tune Wurlitzer band organ spoolbox with wooden sides, either for sale or available for me to borrow? I don't need the tracker bar. A similar, but not identical unit was also used in early Pianinos and Mandolin Quartettes. In 1976 we restored the Wurli...

•I have built from plans the 105 Wurlitzer and am adding some 125 wooden trombones. As unbelievable as it may sound I was able to find room in the case for all 5 pipes. But I have some questions if anyone can answer. 1) What octave (frequency) are the trombones to speak? I know they speak one note l...

•Can anyone help me with the size of the pneumatic for the glockenspiel strikers on a Coinola piano: length, width, span. I bought the metal strikers from PPCo and I want them to swat pretty hard. They will play a Deagan 25-note glock from a theatre organ and be installed on a calliope. Another ques...

•On the subject of paper organ pipes, I was able to build a diapason from cardboard tube, about 1/8" wall thickness. I sealed the inside with sanding sealer, several coats. I was surprised that it actually sounded pretty good. I know that Hupfeld had some ranks in their orchestrions that were made w...

•Bruce Clark stated: > Reed pipes are notorious for going out of tune at a moments notice, > and are very susceptible to temperature changes. Actually, reed pipes are not as susceptible as flue pipes. They may go out of tune because of loose tuning springs, but then flues could have loose tuning sli...

•Regarding John Spradley's question: "I ran across a statement that Helmholtz built cardboard pipes for use in his studies of sound. As I remember it he was attempting to show that the pipe material didn't matter much (probably only small pipes). Can anyone shed any light on this?" Hermann L. F. Hel...

•I am looking for the 16' reed stop from either an Estey or later Wurlitzer reed organ. We can either buy or replicate it for this project if anyone has such a beast laying around. There are a lot of the Wurlitzer units around that had a large console containing a reed organ with pickups and an ampl...

•Every Nelson-Wiggen Style 5x I've restored had a 20-note marimba section, playing unison with the piano notes. The 28-note xylophone in the 4X plays an octave higher than the corresponding piano note (as all coin piano xylophones do). A "xylophone" becomes a "marimba" basically by adding tuned reso...

•Although I have never constructed a pneumatically operated xylophone, I have constructed MIDI-controlled, solenoid actuated glockenspiels and a xylophone. The hammer (wood, in my case) must not remain in contact with the bar, otherwise a buzzing noise will result and the tone will not sing out. As ...