•At DeBence we have been using hemp rope or, in the case of small bellows, several strands of hemp twine twisted together to hold the moveable board in place. I would be afraid nylon would be hard to glue in place, and its characteristic of stretching might be a problem. On the other hand, it will n...

•DeBence Museum received a nice table model Symphonion disc music box as a donation several years ago. As is true for many items that are donated to us, it needed a lot of restoration work. The work is now completed and, as we suspected, the single damaged Symphonion song sheet [disc] that came with...

•Debence Museum has a Seeburg B which has had a rough life. It plays, but the mandolin attachment was removed, and several other features are defeated. We have recreated the mandolin attachment but where is its control? We know which position in the tracker bar is supposed to control it, but how? Sp...

•Well, we are still sorting through and indexing small items at the DeBence Museum, and have come up with a box full of music rolls which Todd Augsburger tells me are for a 28-note Tanzbär roll-operated accordion. We do not have one, so the rolls are of no use to us. We still owe a bunch for the rec...

•The DeBence Museum has recently received the donation of a Kohler & Campbell Tom Thumb player piano. The serial number is unreadable, but I am guessing it is of the 1940 vintage. It is in beautiful cosmetic condition, but the player and piano parts both need work. About 50% of the tuning pins won't...

•DeBence Museum has a Symphonion 30A disc music box, and we have some 13-5/8 discs which are the correct diameter but they do not play properly. This box uses style 30 discs. What do they look like? Specifically, do they have holes around the outer edge? If the answer is no, then that is why our dis...

•The DeBence Museum has been given a Kohler & Campbell "Tom Thumb" player piano. The serial number is obliterated making us unable to date it. The stack has number 197571. It is a 61-key piano that plays 88-note rolls. The pump is a box arrangement and there are no foot pedals. Can anyone tell me wh...

•First, bear with me while I establish what I am about, and let me say that there could be no greater fan of the player piano than myself. Certainly a more capable restorer or pianolist, but not a fan. My familiarity with these most magical of instruments, has only been recent and purely by circumst...

•At DeBence we have the world's only playable Berry-Wood Style A.O.W. orchestrion. I have been working on getting it playing all its features properly and it sure would be easier if I had the tracker bar chart showing what is supposed to connect where. Right now the problem is that the marimba (wood...

•DeBence Museum has acquired a street piano and cart thought to date to about 1900 and to have been made in London, England. The piano is a Chiappa, and the cart was alleged to belong with it. The piano was disassembled and we are in the process of putting it together. I have two questions we need h...

•Some weeks back I asked for help getting the Berry Wood scale as we were trying to get all the functions on the DeBence A.O.W. working. Art Reblitz was kind enough to send me his best guess based on a roll we sent him some years ago. I thought the MMD audience might like to know how it all worked o...

•We are in need of a final roll drive gear for a Nelson-Wiggen 4X machine. The gear has 148 teeth and measures 4.685 inches on the outside diameter. The bore where it mounts on the shaft is .310 inches diameter. Does anyone know where we can get one? Scotty Greene DeBence Antique Music World ...

•Hello all. I have recently been made aware of an available Lessing Orchestral player piano, serial number 140066, maybe very early 1920s. The case has a 4-digit number stamped into each wooden side panel. The present owner has made me aware that the player piano still functions. It is most certainl...

•DeBence Antique Music World has just completed the work needed to put our Nelson-Wiggen 4X nickelodeon back into playing condition. Assuming we solve this last issue it will be back in display on the main floor after five years absence. We need some help tubing the on/off xylophone control. The bas...

•I have read with interest the postings on this subject, as we at DeBence Music World have some experience in this area. In 1970 we were called to look at an organ thought to be a Wurlitzer at Conneaut Lake Park in western Pennsylvania. It was an Artizan band organ. With much work we brought it back...

•A few weeks ago I wrote asking for help to get the xylophone On/Off function working on the DeBence Museum Nelson-Wiggen. Thanks to all who responded. We learned that there are at least three different designs out there that are not like ours. Ed Bottegal, our volunteer, persisted and the small cub...

•While visiting the Bayernhof museum in Pittsburgh make a short trip (an hour or so) north to Franklin to visit DeBence Antique Music World. Their web site is http://www.debencemusicworld.com/ Scotty Greene - DeBence Antique Music World Franklin, Pennsylvania

•Ref. Jim Crank's article on this subject in 110902 MMDigest. If a museum fails, there are several laws related to the return of an item to the original owner which might invalidate any other agreement you have. My best current understanding of the situation is that if the museum is privately owned ...

•David Evans, in his comments in 110904 MMDigest, questions whether MIDI converted rolls will be preserved "forever" as suggested by some. I am with him on this one. We at DeBence have remained "purists" in that we play original or recut rolls on all our machines, and have no plans to MIDI-ize any o...

•The DeBence Museum just received a Nelson Wiggen Style 6 for the collection. The pumps and roll drive are in good shape, the case is excellent, with two stained glass panels in the upper cover, but many features have been disconnected. The wood block is gone. We would greatly appreciate some intern...